Life as it is
by A Special Case
Summary: So, get Naruto to notice Hinata, make Shikamaru like Ino, and turn Sasuke into a slightly less emo-ish person." Tenten said. "He is not emo!" Sakura cried, "and what about you, Tenten?" "Oh its ok. No-one will ever notice me." Rated for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Hi! this is my first story so please give me plenty of reviews of HOW I CAN IMPROVE. Not how sucky this is. OK? There's not a lot of stuff in the first few chapters but it'll get better if u keep reading.

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**Life as it is**

"Um, Hinata? I- I need to tell you something, and I don't know how to say it, but I think I – I think I love you!" Naruto blurted.

"R – really? I – I - I l - love you t- too."

Hinata widened her eyes when Naruto started to come closer. She felt herself blushing like a fire and started to feel woozy. 'No! I can't faint now - !' …Thump.

Hinata opened her eyes. 'It was just a dream.' She felt like crying again; she had so many dreams about Naruto that she even started to stutter less in her mental self.

She stared up at the ceiling momentarily then got up to start getting dressed. Today, she would eat breakfast, then train until lunch, and maybe at Ichiraku's, she would be able to see Naruto. She halted, and then sighed. 'Naruto…'

For years, too many to count, he continued to only see her as just a friend. Perhaps today… no, it would just be the same routine over again. If she happened to see him, he would greet her with a breathtaking smile, and she would have to make a stuttered excuse to turn away before she fainted. Sometimes she was too late and found herself falling into his clear blue eyes. Literally.

Hinata finished brushing her hair, and ran downstairs to greet her father and cousin. After having a rushed breakfast, she hurriedly bid her family goodbye and flew out the door.

She glanced at her watch and increased her pace. She was late.

"Oy!"

Her head jerked up. She could see Kiba's silhouette waving, his back towards the rising sun.

"I'm here! Good morning!" Hinata replied in her feather soft voice, the wind carrying it away so that only she and Kiba's intense hearing could hear it. Shino was, of course, silent as usual, standing like a solid rock against the wind that battered helplessly against him. Already the sun was rising up in a clear blue sky, and Hinata could feel the heat on her neck.

"Ok! Everyone here?" Kurenai struggled to make her heard against the wind, her voice elevated so high that everyone was slightly taken aback.

"No need to shout," Kiba muttered, wincing.

Hinata smiled softly.

"15 laps warm up! Then a short spar before the next set!"

The three started running together, Akamaru by their side. It was the same thing every day. This part of the day allowed them to talk to each other without the fear of being stabbed with a kunai.

"So, Hinata how was your sleep last night?" Kiba's grin gave the under meaning away. Hinata started turning red again. Only her teammates and close friends knew about her sleeping obsession with Naruto. She had been unable to keep her embarrassing secret from her very inquisitive, not to mention, nagging friends.

"I- it was f-fine, thank you, K-Kiba." Even though she was extremely shy, her serious tone suggested that Kiba not pursue the topic or else she would get upset.

"Judging by your lateness this morning, I'd say it was a gooood dream."

Hinata closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. 'I will not lose my temper today. He does not mean it.'

The threesome finished fast and started on the spars. Hinata and Kiba began first with a simple close combat with kunai. They both knew exactly how each other reacted and moved, so it was just a matter of perfecting their moves in fights.

Hinata had started thinking about Naruto again. 'I wonder what he's doing. Probably training hard, like always. He has so much confidence and strength; I wish I could be like him. Maybe he might for some reason train with me if an opportunity presented itself. No, I can dream, but that would never happen in reali- .'

"Hinata!"

She refocused just in time to see Kiba's shoe heading straight towards her before… WHAM!

*

Hinata slowly felt herself coming to. She couldn't move her legs yet, but her fingers were faintly moving. She was well accustomed to the feeling, and chided herself for being so easily distracted. However, she was not used to the feeling of someone picking her up halfway.

"Kiba," she muttered unconsciously, "put me down."

She heard a low chuckle and frowned. That didn't sound like Kiba. This one was more… foxy. Eeh? FOXY!

Hinata snapped open her eyes and would have shrieked, but what came out of her mouth was a tiny "Eeeeeek!"

Leaning over her, his nose nearly touching hers, was the beautiful blond haired boy she had been thinking about.

"Aaaaah…"

"Hinata-chan! You're awake! You shouldn't move that much, Kiba told me what happened. Are you okay now?"

Hinata, who was still recovering from the shock of seeing him, was saved by Shino.

"Naruto. Give her some space."

As Naruto moved back, Hinata was able to fight the blush threatening to spread from her neck and had a chance to look at the rest of the training field.

Kiba, Shino and Kurenai-sensai were obviously there, but accompanying Naruto were the rest of the Konoha 11 and their sensais.

Sakura was observing Hinata and Naruto from the edge. She was torn between sighing romantically and snorting.

Kakashi stood behind Sakura, leaning on a tree reading his trademark orange book.

Sasuke was also there, standing stoically and looking bored. As usual.

Hinata's attention was caught by Ino's voice, on the other side of the field.

"God! Get up! The minute we get here you start with your cloud watching and 'troublesome' again. Can't you ever make time for your team!? I have to deal with you! You should feel sorry for me!"

Shikamaru said something that made her scream with rage, then smack him on the back of the head. Chouji was busy eating crisps and trying hard not to attract any attention from Ino that might turn her on him.

Just a little further from them was Team Gai. Or, what was left of team Gai. Tenten was resting peacefully on her back while Neji stood beside her. Lee and Gai were no-where to be seen.

"Hey, Hinata."

Hinata looked up and fought the urge to smile stupidly. Naruto was offering his hand to her. It took her a full five seconds before she realized he was helping her up. Her! He was helping her!

She grasped his calloused hand and a thousand thoughts ran through her head. She didn't want to let go and clutched even tighter when he pulled her up. Her eyes never left his face.

*

Naruto felt surprised at how delicate her hand was. There were some rough patches from harsh training, but underneath her skin was incredibly soft. It felt like they belonged.

He jerked his hand away from hers, ignoring the hurt look on Hinata's face. He shouldn't be thinking these thoughts, what was wrong with him!

He didn't have time to linger on it as Gai and Lee had returned from their "youthful run of 5000 laps."

"Kakashi! My youthful eternal rival! Can you beat me now!?" Gai announced.

"No, Gai. I cannot beat you." Kakashi replied.

Gai stood struck for a couple of seconds, his hand stuck out in the good guy pose. Everyone burst out laughing.

Asuma cleared his throat loudly and everyone sobered up.

"Today, we've decided to see where you all are up to on your skills."

A sigh of understanding ran through the field.

" You'll be fighting in three-man teams- …"

"Yes!" Kiba interrupted, "we're gonna kick your asses! "

"Not if we kick yours first!" Naruto crowed.

"Give us a break! You won't even last a minute," Ino rebutted, "Everyone knows the 'Ino-Shika-Cho' team works the best together-."

"Which is why we're going to put you into _new _three-man teams." Asuma finished.

"What!" exclaimed Tenten. "No way!"

"Exactly!"

"This is so unfair!"

"If you put me with Ino-pig-"

"Who're you calling 'pig' , forehead!"

"The last time I checked, you were the pig-"

"SHUT UP!"

*cricket* *cricket*

Everyone stared at Kakashi.

"What?" He stated innocently. "I'm reading."

Everyone groaned.

Asuma pulled out a bag. "Now, if one person from every team can come forward and pick out two names. If you get a name of someone who's choosing, throw it back in the bag."

"What if you get yourself?"

Everyone: sweatdrop

"N- Naruto-kun, y-you yourself a-are choosing."

"Aaaaah. Thanks Hinata."

"Y-your welcome."

Lee bounded forward, shouting out, "Here I come, my new youthful team. Tenten! Neji!"

"Yeees, Lee?" Tenten timidly asked.

"I will not forget you!"

Tenten merely rolled her eyes. Neji just stood there.

Ino walked out confidently, occasionally glaring at Sakura, who was fighting with Naruto.

"Pleeeaase, Naruto? I can't just let Ino-pig stroll out there and choose her team. I have to take fate into my own hands too."

"Yeah, but… but," Naruto, spotting Hinata heading towards Asuma in the corner of his eye, saw her as a reason. "Hinata-chan's going so I wanna go too!" (I know… lame)

Sakura stared strangely at him for a few seconds.

"Ok, then, you can go." She said quietly.

As soon as Naruto turned his back on her, Sakura smiled broadly. She had to tell Hinata about this!

"Why did you let him go?"

"Eh?" Sakura turned around to see Sasuke frowning at her. She turned back round to see Naruto talking avidly to Hinata.

"You don't need to know that, Sasuke. It's a girl thing."

* at point Asuma

"Okay, who wants to go first."

"Me! Me please! Asuma sensai!" Lee was jumping about in front of him. Impossible to not notice.

When Lee stuck his hand in the bag, it was like a mini tornado had been created. Lee's face was furrowed in concentration and, after what seemed eternity, finally pulled out two extremely withered pieces of paper.

"Shino-kun and Sasuke- kun!"

It was like the worst combination ever. A hyper kid, a rock, and a stoic smirker.

Shino showed no sign of fear. But inside, he was silently laying out his will.

Sasuke was a little more adventurous. He groaned in defeat. Only Sakura heard him and she giggled quietly.

"I shall now youthfully embrace my new comrades!" Lee shouted.

You could practically feel the fear.

The inner group had turned its attention back to the back and before Naruto could open his mouth, Ino had already stuck her hand in there.

*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

At Asuma's point, everyone cowered. Over the training ground, heads turned and everyone prepared to fight. The other sensais, who had been talking quietly, immediately leaped to Asuma's side.

All this happened in a matter of seconds.

After everyone recovered and realized no impending attack was coming, they discovered the source of the scream was from Ino.

She was staring horrified at the two names she had grasped in her limp hand.

Asuma took a look and chuckled deeply. "Shikamaru and Sakura."

They were wrong. THIS was the worst combination ever. Ino and the two people she hated the most. And her voice.

Sakura took on the same reaction as Ino, minus the scream. Shikamaru only opened one eye and sighed in defeat. It was a good thing he was smart, because his head would've lost half his brain cells the way Ino was hitting him.

Naruto, oblivious to the horror, had already stuck his hand in the bag before realizing Hinata was still standing beside him. He pulled his hand out and turned to Hinata.

"You go first."

Hinata stared wide-eyed at him, and nodded absentmindedly. She was still dumbstruck that Naruto was paying attention to her, and for the second time that day, resisted the urge to smile and gaze dreamily at him.

Hinata looked at her two names. The first one she smiled at. Chouji was a kind person who understood her. There were no catastrophes yet.

She glanced over to her second name and paled only slightly. Cousin Neji and her were on better terms since the chunnin exam, but cooperating with each other and her as the captain was a new experience. One that would hopefully not end in tears.

Naruto peeked over her shoulder and widened his eyes.

"Eh? Chouji and _Neji_?"

Chouji frowned and Neji jerked his head up. Actually, practically everyone frowned at the thought of Neji and Hinata.

Tenten and Hinata made eye contact; they were the ones who probably knew Neji the best. Tenten stepped forward and put a hand on Neji's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. With a small smile she skipped away towards Kiba, who was one of the ones left.

Hinata swore she could have seen a smirk pass Neji's lips.

*

The last team left was Naruto's. It consisted of Naruto, Kiba and Tenten. It was a most unusual threesome as the only ties between them were Naruto and Kiba. Naruto only knew Tenten briefly, so the team was just like a newly reformed genin team.

"Now, we're going to give you a few minutes to get together and choose a team leader. No fights, please. Also try and use the time to work out your techniques and battle formations. Go!" Asuma shouted.

In the next few seconds, there was confusion when people darted across the field to meet the rest of their team only to find them gone to find the third member of the team.

In half a minute, everyone had sorted out where they were going and disappeared off into the trees. Only the sensais were left in the field.

*

Lee, Shino and Sasuke were probably the most formidable team. That is, if they cooperated well enough.

Settled in the huge tree, Sasuke looked down onto Lee who was looking down at Shino who was resting against the tree trunk.

No one was talking.

*

"I deserve to be captain. I chose this team!"

"You didn't choose it, it was on pure chance!"

"Well you didn't even get to pick, so technically I'm the superior, forehead!"

"How does that even make sense? You're not my superior because I'm nicer than you and let Naruto choose!"

"You let Naruto choose? Oh no, don't tell me you LIKE him now. That's disgusting!"

"Eeeew! No! He said he wanted to go because HINATA was going. They're actually making progress in their relationship, and Naruto is actually talking to her more now. That's more than what I can say for your love life!"

"MY love life is just fine!"

"Sure it is, when you're stuck here watching me with Sasuke-kun."

There was a silence where Sakura watched Ino with a measured stare and she stared back. Ino suddenly turned to Shikamaru, who had been watching them all this time.

"I vote Shika as captain."

Shikamaru just barely managed to hang on to his mouth. This was NOT like the girl he had known for the past years. What was wrong with her? He stared at the blonde who was now looking down and fiddling with her fringe.

Sakura smiled. She had only been provoking Ino, and Ino knew that. They were sworn enemies but still knew practically how the other thought. Sakura had questioned where Ino's loyalty lay. Ino didn't want to lie, so she chose not to answer Sakura's statement.

Therefore: Ino did not like Sasuke anymore.

"Ok." Sakura said. "Let's discuss the plan."

Shikamaru could only stare.

*

Hinata, Neji and Chouji turned their heads simultaneously to where Ino's team was. They could hear the whole argument and waited until it had ended before turning to each other.

There was an awkward silence where no one wanted to talk and lingered uncomfortably.

"I-I vote N-Neji nii-s-san as c-captain."

It was Hinata who made the first move. It was probably one of the hardest things she had done in her life.

Neji and Chouji both looked at her in surprise. Chouji nodded his head.

"I agree. Neji knows the best ways we can defeat our opponents."

There was sigh of relief within the triangle. It seemed nothing was going to erupt.

Neji nodded stiffly and the threesome began to talk.

*

In the little clearing the last team had found, there were no silences, no arguments and no awkward tension.

Which was good.

What was bad, however, was the fact that the team wasn't getting anywhere at all.

Tenten, Naruto and Kiba were sitting in tight circle and conversing with each other=good

Tenten, Naruto and Kiba were talking about everything… but their game plan= bad

"I would say Lee's group would win, except that they might start killing each other off, so it's a fifty-fifty chance." Tenten said.

"Yeah, so I think next in line would be Neji's group. He and Hinata aren't on great terms, but they have Chouji, and Neji knows not to do anything at such a time." Kiba said.

"Guys," whined Naruto, "we have to come with something so we can have a chance at this! There's no point saying who you think will win if we don't try, come on!"

Tenten looked down, embarrassed. She was angry at herself; she was such a coward! Just because she didn't know these people didn't mean that she couldn't speak up!

Tenten looked up, determined.

"Okay, first we have to elect a leader."

"Alright! Now we're getting somewhere!" shouted Naruto.

"Yeah, but none of us are leader quality. The other teams have team leaders. Our team is made up with just team members." Kiba said.

Tenten frowned at Kiba's negativity and was just a little hurt at not being good for leader quality. But she understood the logic.

"Man, why did I get a team like you!" Naruto said. "We can't give up! I've got to beat Sasuke-teme and prove Sakura-chan that I can work with people!"

Tenten closed her eyes and thought about what Naruto had just said. Then she opened them.

She stared at the two boys with a determined expression.

"I also have someone I need to beat. We need to get on to discussing so I'm going to elect myself as leader of this team." Tenten held her breath, her face giving no sign of nervousness that she felt.

"I second that motion." Kiba replied.

"Me too! Alright! Tell us how to beat those scumbags!" Naruto yelled.

Tenten let out her breath and grinned. The boys grinned back.

*

Kurenai nodded to Asuma.

He nodded back.

"Time's up! Everyone come back on the field!"


	2. Chapter 2

Author note: ok, i didn't put this in the first chapter, but this is set before Sasuke leaves Konoha, and Sasuke isn't gonna leave Konaha.

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

_"I second that motion." Kiba replied._

_"Me too! Alright! Tell us how to beat those scumbags!" Naruto yelled._

_Tenten let out her breath and grinned. The boys grinned back._

*

Kurenai nodded to Asuma.

He nodded back.

"Time's up! Everyone come back on the field!"

*

12 teenagers stepped out from the forest together. They gave each other measured glances and turned their eyes towards the sensais.

"Leaders step forward."

Four ninjas appeared in front of Asuma in a perfectly straight line.

"Ok, Gai, your turn." You could just see an apologetic expression on Asuma's face before four pairs of eyes were blinded by Gai's flashing teeth.

Shikamaru groaned sickly and was starting to see purple dots in front of his eyes before he recovered enough to close them.

"Ha!" Gai shouted, "I see all three students of mine are here, and none of yours, Kakashi! I have beaten you again!"

Kakashi barely raised an eye from the book it was trained on.

Gai fell down anime style.

Tenten sneaked a look over Sasuke to Neji. She caught his eye and sent him a cheeky grin, then looked back to Gai before he could react. She didn't have time to think over what she had just done, as Gai-sensai was about to announce the first fight.

"Alright, the first youthful fight will be between… "

A long silence passed.

More silence.

"Uh, Gai sensai?" Tenten asked.

More silence.

"Tenten and Lee!"

*

Neji watched as Tenten's team and Lee's, well, companions stood before each other.

"I did not think I would be faced with this challenge of going against my own team mate, but now we are here, I shall youthfully defeat you and your comrades!" Lee shouted.

"Well said, Lee!" Gai yelled from the sidelines.

"Thank you Gai-sensai!"

"Just get on with it!" shouted Tenten.

"Very well. Go!" yelled Gai.

And so the fight began.

Tenten, Kiba and Naruto immediately disappeared.

Sasuke also jumped back into the bushes, his intent being to stay out of the fight until necessary.

Naruto flew out of the bushes right behind Lee, only to have Lee appear to his left. A blow to his stomach sent him skidding backwards and then to pop, much to the surprise of Lee. He had expected for Naruto to come out and challenge him on his own.

Shino decided to draw out the rest of the team and sent his bugs to search. For the time being he wasn't being targeted.

Naruto jumped out again. This time he made a mass shadow bunshin to surround Shino and Lee. He looked around and grimaced. All they needed was Sasuke, but he was the hardest to find.

Meanwhile, Kiba was on the lookout for Sasuke and stopped when he spotted him about twenty metres away. He signaled to Tenten by pulling on one of her chakra strings which she had wound all about the trees.

He felt a tug as a reply and got ready into position.

"Ready, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked in reply.

"Let's go."

*

Naruto had been holding Shino and Lee in place for the last 30 seconds, and it had been extremely hard. Shino had started sending out bugs to dispel the clones and Lee, well Lee was being Lee and had been going all out taijutsu.

Naruto started feeling a little dizzy. The loss of chakra making these clones had a cost. He just hoped Tenten and Kiba would hurry up.

*

Sasuke knew they were nearby. He knew as soon as Kiba had seen him because he had seen him back.

He also knew that Kiba would do a frontal attack with his dog, so it would be a good idea to stay further away until he had found an opening. All he knew about the girl was that she did weapons and was a long range. So he was at a slight disadvantage; so what, he was Sasuke, he would beat them easily.

What happened next was very quick. Instead of coming at him from sides as he expected, they both came at him from the front.

Akamaru leaped at him, followed quickly by Kiba and Tenten flew straight at him with a couple of kunai and hand.

Ok, so he was wrong. She was not a long range. But that didn't mean she was good.

Neither of them wanted to trap him, so what were they doing?

Sasuke leaped back into the field and kept on backflipping until a couple of shuriken stopped him in his path. He turned back and blocked a kick from Tenten and slashed at Akamaru with a kunai.

However, he didn't see Kiba materialize from behind Akamaru and was just quick enough to stop the leg from sinking into his stomach. The force of the kick pushed him back and to get away from them, Sasuke started backflipping again. Surprisingly, they didn't follow him and he was too late to realize why. A thick barrier of Naruto's clones had already surrounded him, and when he looked around he could see Lee and Shino were in the same area.

Sasuke smirked. They thought they could trap them and then finish them off inside? That girl wasn't so smart after all.

*

Naruto grinned as Sasuke was pushed out of the forest into his circle of shadow clones. Then his grin slipped when he saw that Sasuke was about to do the katon no jutsu.

Tenten and Kiba wouldn't be able to keep up with the plan if they continued like this, so he took matters into his own hands.

"Hey Bushy Brow!" Naruto shouted. "I bet you can't get rid of all my clones at once!"

"That is a very youthful challenge!" yelled back Lee, "I will take you up on that bet!"

Lee ran back a few steps and got ready for a run up. "Here I go!"

He ran up the wall of shadow clones, kicking each one to make it pop, and at a superfast speed started to run all the way round. What he didn't see was that he was in the way of Sasuke's fire jutsu, and if he missed that, he would run into the masses of bugs that Shino had sent at the clones.

Tenten had informed her team that once Lee started the run, it was incredibly hard to stop him. The facts were now being put to the test.

*

Lee smiled as he ran. He would show Gai- sensai what a great taijutsu user he was.

Unfortunately, his super speed put him in line of Sasuke's fire jutsu, and before he could get to half way around the circle, he was blown back and burned brutally.

Tenten screamed in shock. This was what they were going for, but Lee was extremely hurt. And he was her teammate.

Sasuke was angry. Where had he come from? He had just wasted chakra on injuring his own team member. He looked round at Shino who had nearly cut down all the shadow clones in his way.

Then he thought. If Lee had missed his fire jutsu, he would have run into Shino's bugs. He then noticed the area in which Lee had been fighting had gotten smaller. They were trying to herd them in and put them in each other's way. He had underestimated his opponents, but they were still too weak to defeat him or Shino.

The shadow bunshins started to move to let Tenten, Kiba and Naruto in. If he was the real Naruto, there was no way of telling.

Tenten had worked out that fighting the same teammate wouldn't be incredibly good because the opponent knew them well. However, since their team had the same people as Lee's team, they would be able to tell each other how the opponents fought. She also knew it wasn't a great idea to put Naruto and Sasuke together.

Naruto went to take care of Shino, and Tenten and Kiba appeared in front of Sasuke. This was about one minute into the battle.

*

Neji watched from the sidelines as the next seven minutes were full on, hard fighting. He could see Tenten was beginning to tire, but determined to win the round.

He hadn't been expecting Lee as well as Tenten to be the leader. In Lee's case, he probably was the only one bothered, but Tenten was a different story.

He had known Tenten outgoing, confident girl, but never really wanted the responsibility as leader on missions. Then again, her team consisted of Naruto and Kiba, neither of which had been leaders before.

And what was with the grin? Neji had remembered staring at her after, feeling unexpectedly… weird.

He turned his attention back into the fight. Sasuke had thrown a couple of shuriken at Tenten before being nearly boxed in by Kiba and Akamaru. Tenten had thrown out several kunai in retaliation, but Neji noticed her aim was about a few centimeters off.

Neji also noticed that Tenten hadn't seen the other set of shuriken thrown in the shadow of the first set. As two thudded into her right leg, and the rest skimmed her pants, she looked down in shock and pain. Her landing was sloppy, being only just able to stand.

As soon as she touched the ground, she grabbed hold of the shuriken and yanked them out, staining her pants with blood. She swore at herself and then leapt up into the air for her trademark technique.

She had just enough time to yell, "Kiba, get out of the way!" before hundreds of weapons made their way straight towards Sasuke.

*

This time Sasuke swore. Kiba had shot off towards Tenten and kicked Sasuke back at the last moment. Sure, he could fend off weapons, but this? These didn't have bodies attached to them, so he couldn't exactly sense each one, and there were hundreds of them.

So he did exactly what everyone expected Sasuke would do. He fended off nearly all the weapons, only a few scraping his skin, and looked confident and cool throughout it. Until the kunai he had thought fallen to the ground came back up and targeted his legs.

His frown was all Tenten needed. She made a slight hole in the barrage of weapons above him, controlling the weapons with chakra strings. He jumped straight out, as she expected, and battled with the weapons on a higher level.

This was the point that was most crucial of all.

What Sasuke had coming to him was this. There was Kiba to the right of him, to the left- a battered and bruised Naruto who had abandoned his losing fight with Shino, and in between, a whirlwind of Tenten's weapons.

Sasuke saw Naruto closer, so he decided to tackle him first. Once he flung him out of the way, he'd use Kiba as a jumping point and leave him in the way of the weapons. The Tenten girl would be too occupied with stopping her weapons to be much of an opponent.

But what happened was this. Naruto suddenly flickered and disappeared. Sasuke, trained on instinct to follow his pray, whipped around and was too late. Kiba had kicked him especially hard in the lower stomach from the position Naruto had just been in.

They hadn't been shadow clones, and nobody cold just switch places. So what happened?

*

Only Neji, out of the other students saw the thin, but strong chakra strings that were attached to Naruto's and Kiba's backs.

"Smart girl," he muttered to himself. He remembered a particular training session he and Tenten had had a few days ago.

*Flashback*

"Come on, Neji. Just this once. I promise I won't hurt you!"

"Why don't you practice on inanimate objects first, Tenten." He replied.

Tenten pouted, and he couldn't resist thinking how cute she looked like that.

"Neeeeji, I've already practiced on sticks and stuff like that. I need to use it on people to know how strong my chakra strings are. All I have to do is attach them to your back and swing you round a bit. And you're my training partner, I thought we agreed to help each other."

Neji sighed. She was right. They had both made a pledge to help each other on perfecting their skills. He would just have to trust fate to keep him safe.

Tenten, seeing the defeat in Neji's eyes, thrust her fist up into the air in hyper mood.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she yelled.

"Don't get too excited. One wrong move and I'm out." he said.

Tenten switched from hyper to being depressed and serious.

"Do you really doubt my skills that much, Neji?" she whimpered. Her sad, lonely face and puppy dog eyes set him on high alert. He was in major danger zone. If he let her do it now, he'd most likely be beaten to pulp. If he didn't let him do it at all, she'd probably set plagues on him.

He swallowed nervously.

"Of course I don't Tenten. I'd be glad to help a team mate."

A slow, sinister smile spread across her face. A minute later, he was sprawled across the ground, feeling like vomiting and killing Tenten.

*End Flashback*

*

The match was now over. Sasuke and Shino had won by far. Tenten's stamina had been cut short from lack of concentration and was now sporting several wounds to the leg. Kiba had been severely injured due to Sasuke, and was now arguing with Shino about how he spared Akamaru but no him.

Naruto and Sasuke had been drawn into a one-on-one battle again. Tenten was too weak to stop them, so the senseis stepped in. They were now conversing in low voices on what to do with Lee, who was still in bad condition but had recovered immediately when hearing Gai's voice.

Crouching on the ground, Tenten was pulling in her weapons with chakra strings. Her long bangs covered her fuming face. She was so angry with herself! The technique was right, her team mates did what they were supposed to do. But she was the leader! She was supposed to support her team no matter what, and she had failed miserably and embarrassingly at that job.

She jerked ferociously at one of the chakra strings, but had no noticed how near it was to her face. She didn't even look up when a pale hand stopped the speeding kunai.

"Tenten."

Why? Why did that one word and that one voice make her feel like she was crap at everything and was a disappointment, but also wanted her to jump up and wrap her arms around his neck. Why?

"Tenten, you did well."

She did look up this time, and saw and amused Neji with a small smile.

"But Neji," she replied with her wide eyes, "I really wanted ice cream today."

"Tente-" Neji began.

"Tenten!" shouted several voices.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata were all heading towards her, Hinata hanging back a little. Neji stepped away immediately, a motion that Ino didn't miss. She shot a look at Tenten that said "we'll talk about this later."

"Neji-nii san, it is time for our fight." Hinata softly said.

Neji nodded in agreement and got up to go, leaving Tenten to the mercy of Sakura and Ino. But before they could start on her, Shikamaru called out to them. Ino and Sakura both looked at Tenten meaningfully at the same time. They both were really best friends.

*

(Because I'm too tired to write this, I'll just tell you what happens)

Basically Neji's team wins even though Shikamaru's plan was genius. It's just that Ino made one mistake which led to Neji taking the advantage which led to a chain of mistakes on Shikamaru's team.

*

"Nice job, Neji," Tenten said to a wiped out Neji, "but then you always do a nice job."

Neji looked up at her. Was it just him, or was her voice and expression just a little weird?

"Tenten, are you-?"

"Neji! Have you no pity for us girls?"

He was interrupted… again. He didn't know how much more he could take of his comrades. Ino and Sakura were now headed their way again, Ino dragging Shikamaru along.

Ino winked at them. "Just making sure you're treating her the right way."

"Ino!" Tenten cried.

"What!" Ino exclaimed, "It's my duty as a friend! And Sakura's too!" She nudged Sakura with her elbow.

"Oh! Right, well we're just gonna go so we don't embarrass you more, Tenten!" Sakura said, laughing nervously and trying not to think of how Tenten would kill them later. She then proceeded to ignore Ino's complaints and drag Ino and an annoyed Shikamaru away.

Neji was just really confused.

* (After about 5 mins rest)

With a quick rest and chat, the 12 genin gathered around the senseis again, ready for the last battle.

"With a last minute change," Kakashi said in a bored tone, "we have decided for Neji's team to verse Tenten's team due to some casualties (pointed look at a dazed Lee) and that team work was taken into account. "

Tenten was shocked, and Naruto totally exhilarated.

"Alright! Bring it on Neji!" Naruto yelled.

"N - N - Naruto-kun, g - good luck." Hinata said.

"Eeh? Did you say something, Hinata?" Naruto shouted, squinting up his eyes to look at her better in the face.

"N - No!" she squeaked, rushing to hide behind Tenten.

"Alright," Asuma yelled, "Enough chit-chat, start!"

* * *

Author note: i just found out how to use the horizontal ruler that suddenly makes everything easier, yay!

anyway, please please R&R please. Thanx to all readers and all reviewers.  
if its bad, i apologise. i really dont like these first chapters, so i understand you.


	3. Chapter 3

A Special Case: Hey, this is chapter three, so... enjoy!

* * *

**Life as it is  
**

**Summary for last ch.**

_"With a last minute change," Kakashi said in a bored tone, "we have decided for Neji's team to verse Tenten's team due to some casualties (pointed look at a dazed Lee) and that team work was taken into account. "_

_Tenten was shocked, and Naruto totally exhilarated._

_"Alright! Bring it on Neji!" Naruto yelled._

_"N - N - Naruto-kun, g - good luck." Hinata said._

_"Eeh? Did you say something, Hinata?" Naruto shouted, squinting up his eyes to look at her better in the face._

_"N - No!" she squeaked, rushing to hide behind Tenten._

_"Alright," Asuma yelled, "Enough chit-chat, start!"_

**Chapter three**_  
_

Sakura could honestly say, it was by far the strangest battle of all. From the moment start was yelled, Kiba and Naruto charged forward, the intensity of their seriousness, startling.

Chouji was holding back from fighting Kiba, frequently glancing over to Neji for any commands. However, Kiba and Akamaru soon took the advantage and he needed to pay full attention to his fight.

Where Kiba and Chouji were going all out, Naruto and Hinata were the opposite. They repeated the same routine over again, as if they were practicing a particular move. Naruto would rush in with his shadow bunshin, trying to reach Hinata through her guard of spinning chakra.

Within a few seconds, the bunshins would disparate, and both opponents would skid back from each other taking care to see if the other was ready to go again. Occasionally Hinata would accidentally get a hold of the real Naruto and close up a few of his chakra points, sending him crashing into a thick tree trunk.

Sakura's mouth gaped even wider when she saw Hinata turn red and flush with embarrassment. The senseis' eyes were trained on her while she ran over to Naruto, and helped him up, releasing the closed up chakra.

Kurenai couldn't resist smiling, even as Kakashi and Asuma frowned at her naivety. It was just so sweet, and it brought her back to when she was young. The times where her heart would beat hard when… well, that was in the past.

With a sidelong glance, Sasuke could see Sakura literally on her toes, following each move of the battle with her eyes. The concentration of her stature surprised him, before he realised he was starting to stare at her and quickly turned away, a light blush staining his cheeks.

Sasuke looked up at the ongoing battle and gasped suddenly. Luckily, no one could hear this expressive emotion that would ruin his pride; Sakura, along with the other genin were shocked at what they had just realised…

_Neji and Tenten weren't doing a thing._

Was this a trick of the mind? No, they were standing perfectly still, on guard but not moving. Wasn't this a battle?

*

Neji and Tenten stood about 10 feet opposite each other, each one's eyes staring steadily into the other's.

Neji raised his right eyebrow and slid his eyes over to the left.  
_They're talking about us._

Tenten raised her left eyebrow, lowered her eyelids into slits and her lips curved up in a teasing smile. Her right fist clenched tighter around a kunai.  
_Do you really care? This is just between you and me._

Neji stared her in the face, a smirk beginning to form.  
_Very well. Let's start!_

Every observer's breath hitched when Tenten and Neji began circling each other slowly. It was almost like a dance. Each step of Tenten's was a light, precise jump, and Neji's was a strong, controlled stride.

No one could see Chouji blowing up in all his glory, or Naruto grinning at Hinata for helping him once again. They could only see the dance, could only hear the crunch of the grass beneath their feet, and could only feel the powerful wind that was generated by their energy.

It was as if Neji and Tenten had _their_ world, and everyone was standing just on the ledge.

It was as quick as blink, but suddenly Neji's left hand flicked up in invitation. Tenten decided to go for it. Stepping up onto a reinforced chakra string just to her right, she started to race in circle that went slightly around Neji.

Eyes widened as they saw Tenten seemingly walking on air, and flying at high speeds guaranteed to make Gai proud.

Neji was confused. Yes, he was confused because he could see the chakra strings. Every one of them, in fact. And he was confused because he knew Tenten knew that he could see them. He was at a major advantage, and yet…

And yet she was smiling with joy while she ran, a self-confident grin that made Neji's heart pound. In nervousness or something else, he wasn't sure.

Was there a loop hole in his byukagan? Did she use his blind spot against him? A slight turn to the left assured him that everything was covered.

As his eyes fixed upon her delicate face again, he was shocked to discover that her smile had dropped. Her expression was hidden under her bangs, and she looked as grim as the day the third Hokage had died.

And it was also in that moment that Neji's guard dropped.

*

Tenten had thought of it in the middle of her first battle. She had been so hyped up about winning against Neji, that she had forgotten that she had to win this battle first.

Nevertheless, her concentration slipped and she began making plans on how to avoid Neji's byukagan.

She could hide kunais in the trees, but they would have to stay there by chakra strings and he could easily see those.

She could hide them in the ground, but the same principle applied.

But wait, could Neji really see them if they didn't have chakra strings? If she had somehow marked out the location and then pulled them out with her chakra strings?

Tenten's mouth widened and a voice inside her head said: _Do it. You have nothing to lose. Besides, Neji will beat you anyway, so you might as well get in some good ideas._

She sighed. The voice inside her head was right; Neji would beat her, and make her look like she was crap. Like always. She had nothing to lose, and if it didn't work… well she would have to just try it.

*

Now, as Tenten jumped high off the ground, she forced the thick chakra strings to dig into the ground around Neji in carefully marked spots.

She could see from front row view the shocked expression on his face when he realised she had tricked him into thinking something was wrong with her. And she couldn't help but laugh.

Tenten's loud peals of laughter shook everyone out of their reverie. They now realised that Naruto and Hinata were out of the picture. Apparently, Naruto had gotten too close to Hinata, thinking she had a 'fever'. As it was, you didn't have to be Einstein to guess what happened.

Chouji and Kiba's fight wasn't over yet, but it was pretty obvious that Chouji was suffering without the support of teammates and Kiba and Akamaru were slowly wearing the big guy down.

Back to Tenten and Neji; she had ferociously pulled back the chakra strings, sending her shooting back the ground, and the underground kunais dangerously pointed at a surprised Neji. Even though he was caught off guard, his quick reflexes saved him, the knives tearing through fabric instead of skin.

However, the kunais continued to curve up, now targeted at an airborne Tenten.

The next few moves were in slow motion. Her laughter had stopped long ago, and her face mirrored the expression on everyone else's.

Horror.

Tenten couldn't turn in the air to avoid the kunais, and she couldn't somehow alter their path. She was in the air, exposed and helpless.

*

Quick as a flash, Tenten pulled out two kunais, and shot them towards the oncoming barrage. With her nimble fingers, she pulled out two more and shot them with precision, repeating the move over again.

It was good. But not good enough.

The kunais literally tore through her clothing and one hit her thigh painfully as she twisted in the air, desperately trying to avoid her own weapons. Through her arms that were guarding her face, she could see words forming on Neji's lips.

*

"Tenten!" Neji shouted, "Tenten, no!"

Within a few seconds, Tenten was pulled down by gravity, falling into the safe catch of Neji's arms.

"Dammit, Tenten! Why did you do that! You're so stupid!" Neji shouted, his calm demeanor vanishing for a moment.

When he saw her up there, he was truly scared. True, he didn't doubt her skills as a weapon's mistress, but she was in the air, and there were so many kunais…

Tenten was shocked at his outburst. Couldn't he just live with the fact that she wasn't ever going to go anywhere if she played it safe? That losing just wasn't enough?

Tenten jerked her head defiantly, sending him her best accusing glare. She scrambled out of his arms and stalked off, knowing that Ino would complain later how 'she ruined the perfect moment'. He just didn't understand!

But then again, why would he? He was the great, fantastic, top of the world, egoistic, prideful, freaking genius Neji Hyuuga!

Tenten picked up a kunai and flung it with huge force towards a nearby tree. It hit with a dull thud, splitting the bark with its power.

The other girls, on their intent to get to her, stopped abruptly as Tenten threw the kunai. With understanding glances, they melted away towards the other end of the field in case Tenten got angrier and started demolishing everything she saw.

She hung her head, tears pricking at her eyes.  
It was over. Her team had won, but _she_ had lost.

*

It felt like déjà vu, Tenten thought, as she was left on the field alone.

Wasn't it her who let down the team last time? And she called her self a leader!She felt the vibrations of footsteps coming her way. It was steady, calming, in time with her heart.

Neji.

"Tenten." Yes, this was exactly like déjà vu.

She refused to meet his glance, abruptly standing to collect her various weapons, ignoring the stinging pain in her thigh.

She hated it. She hated how before each spar, it felt like it was set in stone that Neji was meant to win, and she was meant to lose. She knew she mentally complained too much, but it was obsessive. It was obsessive how much she hated her inferiority.

Tenten looked up at the sky, the bright sun burning her eyes, pretending she was all alone.

"It's so confusing." She said quietly.

"What's confusing?" Neji said. Was it the battle? Did she not expect that such a thing would happen?

Tenten resisted the urge to stab Neji repeatedly with the kunai she held in her hand. She wasn't talking to him! She knew she was in a horrid mood, and her temper was short, but it felt so _good_, to be angry at Neji.

So good that she knew why she was angry and he didn't.

"Tenten, what's wrong with you!" Neji said. He didn't understand her at all. One moment she was all happy and the next, she was ignoring him?

That was all Tenten needed. Without any warning, she whirled around and shot six kunais at him. It would have been better to actually hit him, but she knew she would regret it later.

Neji didn't dare speak or take another step towards her. He understood that she was moody, but did she have to take her anger out on him? What had he done?

He observed the cuts she had just made on his already tattered shirt. If he had been anywhere near a tree, he'd be pinned down by now.

"That was incredibly childish, Tenten."

Childish! Childish! How dare he! Tenten's mouth was about open when…

"Come on, Tenten. I owe you ice cream, you won remember?"

She was literally bubbling with fury. Was he just dismissing it as if it were nothing? She didn't win, her teammates did, and he fully well knew that! She picked her last shuriken and turned to her training partner.

"Forget about. I don't need your help," she spat, and with a change in her path, she strode off the field haughtily, leaving a confused Neji by himself.

*

"Hey, Tenten's here!" Ino cried from her window seat in the coffee shop.

Hinata moved over to make room for her, whilst Sakura and Ino both simultaneously leaned forward, their chins resting on their hands.

"So, Tenten, we were wondering…" Sakura started.

Tenten closed her eyes. Please don't ask about Neji. Please don't ask about Neji. Please don't ask about-

"If you would be free for an all girls sleepover next Friday?" finished Ino.

The subject in question opened her eyes in surprise. So they were waiting for her to cool down, and then ambush her in nightgowns and armed with pillows?

"Sounds good to me." Tenten replied.

* * *

A Special Case: I'm so sorry this is shorter than my other ones, but ive made an important decision… (drums drums drums)

In order to get out fanfics within at least one chapter a week, I _have to_ make them shorter. So this one is about 1000 words shorter than the other one, because 3000 is depriving me of sleep and precious computer time.

I know the cohesion in this one sucks, and i also don't like it, but I typed it up in three days. Give me some slack.

P.S.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all people who read and reviewed. I luv u aaalll! And if anyone calls you lame, just bash them up because URE AWSOME!!!

Yeah, anyway, it's given me lots of motivation and please keep reading!!!


	4. Chapter 4

A Special Case: this took longer than usual cos i had a brain spazz, but its aaaall good now!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

"Forget about. I don't need your help," she spat, and with a change in her path, she strode off the field haughtily, leaving a confused Neji by himself.

*

"Hey, Tenten's here!" Ino cried from her window seat in the coffee shop.

Hinata moved over to make room for her, whilst Sakura and Ino both simultaneously leaned forward, their chins resting on their hands.

"So, Tenten, we were wondering…" Sakura started.

Tenten closed her eyes. Please don't ask about Neji. Please don't ask about Neji. Please don't ask about-

"If you would be free for an all girls sleepover next Friday?" finished Ino.

The subject in question opened her eyes in surprise. So they were waiting for her to cool down, and then ambush her in nightgowns and armed with pillows?

"Sounds good to me." Tenten replied.

**Chapter 4**

The next day, Tenten was walking with Hinata down Konoha Main Street. Hinata's team had taken a break that day, and Gai was missing; most likely accompanying Lee in a "Dynamic Exit!" out of the hospital. So that made the two of them.

Of course, Tenten could train with Neji, but she just didn't want to see him. For personal reasons.

Looking at the blue haired kunoichi beside her, Tenten couldn't help but think how the relationship between Hinata and Neji must be at the Hyuuga residence. Her home must be huge, but Hinata couldn't avoid Neji altogether.

What if they got into a fight? Did they even talk to each other? Wouldn't it be awkward if they didn't talk?

Tenten visualized a huge, stuck up Neji looming over a shivering, scared Hinata. She let a small giggle bubble from her lips, attracting Hinata's attention and making her frown.

"Ummm. Tenten? Are you ok? Are you feeling sick?" Hinata questioned. Tenten laughed hysterically, resulting in more people staring at her.

"It's fine, Hinata. I'm fine."

And at that moment, Tenten realised she was actually telling the truth. She _was_ fine! She felt so exhilarated, unconquerable, and in the mood for some happiness! (It was probably a mood swing... but whatever)

"Ne, Hinata."

"Yes, Tenten?"

"Let's have fun today!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! Tenten! Where are you taking me!! Teeeenteeeen!"

*

Neji's head jerked up from his break from training, swearing he heard…

No, that was not possible. He sighed; this was the fifth time he'd thought about his training partner during training. Her face in his mind was seriously affecting his performance, and Hiashi was not a merciful opponent.

His body was slowly building up a huge number of bruises caused by his frustrated uncle.

As he raised his steaming cup to his lips, his uncle spoke.

"Neji," he started with a sigh, "perhaps you should take a break today; you're not concentrating."

Neji felt like saying, 'you didn't have to tell me.'

"Okay. I will take a walk." He replied.

"Good, maybe it might clear your head. Who knows what's going on in there."

The last bit was muttered quietly, but Neji's trained ears caught the words easily. What _was_ going on inside his head? He pondered this as he walked down to the training grounds.

Normally, training techniques would be running through head. Ways to make sure he had a good battle, something he could work on, something that could make Tenten work harder.

Damn! He slapped his head mentally. That was her name again! Perhaps he was just messed up about her attitude yesterday. Yes, that was exactly why he was thinking about her obsessively today.

*

"Ahhh, so cute!" Tenten exclaimed, examining a hand-sewn doll sitting delicately in a reject shop. "Don't you think so too, Hinata? Hinata?"

Tenten turned to the space Hinata occupied two seconds ago. She looked further to see Hinata staring out the window to something across the street. Or someone.

Naruto was sitting alone on a bench, his lips moving sadly. Tenten put the doll back onto the shelf and walked over to join the struck girl.

"Ne, he looks pretty lonely, doesn't he?" Hinata quietly observed. Tenten smiled at the girl. If Sakura and Ino could read each other like a book, Tenten could write Hinata's book.

"So why don't you go talk to him," Tenten said.

"What! No! I'll- I'll start stuttering around him, and he'll ask me what's wrong with me, and then I'll faint again and I won't ever talk to him again, and he'll think I'm weird and …"

"Hinata."

"Yes?" Hinata asked.

"You're not stuttering around me, are you," Tenten questioned.

"Well, no, but that's because you're my friend…"

"So just treat Naruto as a friend. Just because you like him doesn't mean you can't start off like friends, can you?" Tenten encouraged.

"R-really?" Hinata started to poke her fingers together, a crease between her eyebrows starting to form. "Well, I guess I can try…"

"Hinata, look at him," Tenten said, "he needs someone like you right now, even if it's just a few words. Take him to the park or something, ok?"

Hinata looked at the poor boy, his shoulders sagging and his dimmed eyes were avoiding anyone who passed. She breathed out slowly, repeating a phrase in her head. 'Just treat him as a friend.'

"Ok! I can do this!"

She marched past Tenten to the door, but the moment she had taken two steps outside the store, she froze. Her breath was becoming shorter, her throat more constricted. She swore her heart skipped about two beats.

She turned back, fully ready to go straight back in and hide in the deepest, darkest corner she could find. What was she thinking! Just because she could talk with Tenten, didn't mean she could talk with Naruto!

'Just treat him as a friend.'

The statement popped in her mind, giving her a guideline to follow. Maybe, just maybe, she could do this?

She looked round to Tenten's encouraging smile, egging her on. After many more deep breaths, she took another step.

*

Tenten watched from behind the shop window, a nervous lip being steadily gnawed. Hinata had reached Naruto and stood there for a moment before suddenly sitting down awkwardly, as if she had nothing else to do.

Naruto raised his head and suspiciously peeked at her beneath his blond hair, making Hinata cower slightly away. Tenten pouted; he looked at her as if she were a stranger or something!

She could see Hinata's chest rising up and down, getting faster as Naruto smiled hesitantly at her.

'Say something!' Tenten wanted to shout.

As if her telepathic message reached the shy girl, Hinata's form took a much more confident pose and she replied to an unheard question. The next thing Tenten knew, Hinata was whisked away by an enthusiastic Naruto, intent on getting somewhere very, very fast.

Behind the glass, Tenten could see passer-bys taking a glance at her, trying not to stare. She looked much like a mannequin, standing there so still for God knows how long.

Finally she sighed with a smile. With Hinata gone, her fizz of excitement had gone too. Perhaps she should go spy on Hinata? No! A light tinge appeared on her face for thinking that she would go spy on a 'date'. It made her seem desperate.

As if she had no-one else to go to.

*

Hinata was in one of those Kodak moments again. Why was it that every time she was with Naruto, her heart hurt but she was extremely happy? Especially to see him smiling again.

Padding along behind him, she thought of all the reasons why she liked him. 'Well, he was so strong and courageous, and kind and caring…'

"Would you like to eat something, Hinata?"

She looked into his inquiring eyes, '...his eyes show compassion...',

"Yes, I-I would like to." She replied.

"Yosh! Let's go to Ichiraku's" he shouted.

Hinata giggled cutely, 'he doesn't care that I stuttered… Wait! I didn't stutter as much when I replied just then! Maybe Tenten's words are rubbing off me…'

*

Ino took in a huge breath… and let it out again, letting her chin slump into her palm, jarring her teeth.

She had been doing the same thing over again, for about… an hour?

There had been absolutely no-one coming into the shop for the whole day and she was _insanely boooored._

Today was the first day of her resolution**: Get up early on days you have to work in the shop**, and no one was here!

Maybe today was a special day? No, it was a normal Saturday in Konoha, everyone was passing by _and no-one was buying flowers!_

A noise startled her from behind. She turned to see her dad stumbling out from the bottom of the staircase connecting the shop to the house.

"Dad!" Ino called, "why are you so late today?"

Inoshi looked up to his daughter through tired eyes. Apron, hair tied up, and a stern expression on her face. She must be… expecting customers?

Ino looked on in disbelief as her father started cracking up right there.

"Daddy, stop! What if customers come in and see you?"

"Ino, honey," Inoshi said, "we're on holidays today, no-one is coming in, see?"

He showed her the card on the doorway which said "Closed for holidays."

Ino could feel herself being slowly sucked out of her body and floating away, up and up into the sky.

'How could I forget to check the card! How could I have made such a mistake! How!'

She was now being blown out the door, the wind swaying her ghostly self slightly. She had been standing there for about two hours, when she could've been shopping! Why! Why did this happen!

She floated over the street to the Hokage tower, watching people bustling and laughing below. 'I could have been there by now, buying the beautiful shoes I saw earlier. They're probably taken now,' she thought sadly.

And to be laughed at by her father! How inconsiderate of him! When she returned back to being physical, she would make sure…Shikamaru?

A familiar pineapple hair-do came into sight. Curious to where he was going, she turned from her original position to draw a line from where Shika was standing to where he was headed.

'Let's see, the shoe shop? No, he's turning into the flower shop next to it. Wait, the flower shop? My flower shop!?"

Ino subconscious rushed back to her body strongly, pushing her over comically.

A hard hit to the ground sent Ino's memory rushing back to her. She was floating… and saw Shikamaru? That's right, she was sort of separated by horror and mortification. Wow…how science fictiony.

"That… was _so_ weird," She whispered to herself.

"Ino, are you ok?" she heard a call from the other side of the counter.

Scrambling up and using the counter as support, she adjusted her hair and clothes to turn to the two males who stood in identical positions next to each other.

Eyebrow raised, head tilted, eyes concerned, peering at her closely.

"Will you stop looking at me like that!" she shouted, "I had a moment, is that illegal!?"

It was like they had both been born to mock her.

"No, no, not _at all_ Ino."

"Ino, baby, of course it's not weird _at all_ that you had a moment."

Ino, sad to say, was not pleased by the sarcasm.

*

"Stop treating me like a girl! I'm a full-grown teenager and I would appreciate it if you guys could give me a less harder time by NOT LAUGHING AT ME!"

"…"

Sakura, about to put her hand on the door of the Yamanaka flower shop, stood shock still, then quickly high-tailed it out of there. What was going on in there, she wanted no part in it. Absolutely no part at all.

However, it was a little intriguing. Ino would only get so angry if Shikamaru was there, but the Yamanaka shop was closed. Did that mean that Shikamaru was visiting her?

Sakura giggled to herself, she would have to interrogate Ino about it later. Hmmm… maybe save it for the sleepover.

Up ahead, she could see a dango stall. As if on cue, her stomach growled embarrassingly. Well, it _was_ around lunch time.

"One stick, please!"

"Great!" the storeowner said, "One dango stick coming up!"

While the man was bustling round his little stall, Sakura looked to the people around her, laughing and having fun with each other.

Just seeing the smiles of Konoha made Sakura feel a little happier.

"Here you go, miss."

Sakura turned back to the smiling man. Her hand searched for change in her pocket to pay for it, but there was nothing in it.

She searched the other pocket, but there was nothing!

With a shock of realization, she remembered that she put her change in her purse which she left at home because she was just going to visit Ino!

The storeowner was getting impatient, his frown becoming a little too evident to Sakura. She frantically searched every single fold and pocket for money, any money!

With an apologetic look at the furious owner, she was ready to sink into the ground and disappear.

"I'll pay for it."

Both looked at the boy leaning on the dango stall.

"Sasuke," Sakura breathed.

"Well, missy, you're lucky this time, aren't you?" the owner said, his terrifying mood turning pace when he saw the prospect of money.

"Yes," Sakura whispered dreamily.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the struck girl beside and wondered: 'is she staring at him or the dango?'

He had to literally drag her away; she was so stuck to the ground. The pink-haired girl next to him was proving to be a difficult companion. Her legs were looking as if she had never walked before.

"Keh, Sakura, you're such a weak person."

Sakura was partly in her own world when she heard those words.

'What? Weak? That's it! I don't care if he's got a hot body, I'll show him!'

And with that, she snatched the dango stick from him, jerked her arm away, and walked away haughtily, achieving a very surprised look on Sasuke's face.

'Ha! SHANNARO!! In your face Sasuke, I totally just pawned you there, right?'

Sakura turned back to give him one last glare when… 'he's not there? WAAAAA! My plan failed.'

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, 'next time… next time I'll get him.'

*

Sasuke was watching her minor mood swings from the shadows.

'Maybe she's a little better than before, just a little.'

* * *

A Special Case: I'm sorry if you don't like the bit at the end, cos i don't like it either. It seems... very uneven if you get what i mean. And because I am not a great fan of SasuSaku. Anyway, R&R!


	5. Chapter 5

A Special Case: Please forgive me, this is a letdown chapter. (wails)

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

What _was_ going on inside his head? He pondered this as he walked down to the training grounds.

Normally, training techniques would be running through head. Ways to make sure he had a good battle, something he could work on, something that could make Tenten work harder.

Damn! He slapped his head mentally. That was her name again! Perhaps he was just messed up about her attitude yesterday. Yes, that was exactly why he was thinking about her obsessively today.

*

'Say something!' Tenten wanted to shout.

As if her telepathic message reached the shy girl, Hinata's form took a much more confident pose and she replied to an unheard question. The next thing Tenten knew, Hinata was whisked away by an enthusiastic Naruto, intent on getting somewhere very, very fast.

*

Finally she sighed with a smile. With Hinata gone, her fizz of excitement had gone too. Perhaps she should go spy on Hinata? No! A light tinge appeared on her face for thinking that she would go spy on a 'date'. It made her seem desperate.

As if she had no-one else to go to.

*

"Ino, are you ok?" she heard a call from the other side of the counter.

Scrambling up and using the counter as support, she adjusted her hair and clothes to turn to the two males who stood in identical positions next to each other.

Eyebrow raised, head tilted, eyes concerned, peering at her closely.

"Will you stop looking at me like that!" she shouted, "I had a moment, is that illegal!?"

It was like they had both been born to mock her.

"No, no, not _at all_ Ino."

"Ino, baby, of course it's not weird _at all_ that you had a moment."

Ino, sad to say, was not pleased by the sarcasm.

*

Sasuke was watching her minor mood swings from the shadows.

'Maybe she's a little better than before, just a little.'

**Chapter 5**

"Go! Hinata!" Tenten whispered.

She was currently hiding in a tree outside the Hyuuga mansion on the gloomiest day she had ever seen. Or could remember. And, no, she wasn't playing hide and seek. Her fingernails dug into her palm as she prayed the other girl could keep in character.

Actually, she had practically no idea how she ended up here, watching Hinata make her way towards Neji's room, her legs uncontrollably shaking and giving another meaning to 'stealth'.

Ah, well, it started with Sakura…

* (Flashback)

"Hey Tenten! There you are!" Sakura yelled.

Tenten had been just about to enter into the weapon shop, her eyes intent on a glistening katana at the back of the room.

She halted and stiffened for a moment, hoping to God that Tsunade didn't decide to send her on a mission with Neji. With the incoming clouds, she did _not_ want to get stuck with him in some dodgy cave…

"Hi Sakura," she replied, "What's up?"

"Weeeell," Sakura began, a cheeky grin appearing, "I hope you aren't doing anything _naughty_ with _Neji_, are you?"

If Tenten had not been in such a great mood and outside a weapon shop, she would have literally had a heart attack. Instead, she let out a squeak not unlike Hinata, and cowered away from Sakura.

"Who – Who told you that!" Tenten shouted, her eyes wide with fear.

"Eh?" asked Sakura, peering down on her, "don't tell me it's true!"

Tenten breathed a huge sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground. "Jeez, Sakura… WHERE THE HECK DID YOU GET THAT FROM!"

"Gaaah! Tenten! Tenten! Nejijustaskedmeifihadseenyou that'sit!" Sakura yelled, throwing up her hands in surrender and closing her eyes, not wanting to see her possible death.

"Tenten?"

Tenten was walking into the shop, her brows furrowed in concentration. "Neji… Neji asked? No, Neji just asked…? Maybe if I hold that katana it will help me think…"

Sakura: Sweatdrop.

She followed the older girl into the shop, marveling at the extensive collection of murderous weapons.

Sidetracked by an especially sharp kunai, she missed the continuing mutterings of Tenten, still trying to decipher Sakura's hurried speech.

"Yes," Tenten murmured, sliding two fingers over the blade of the katana, "Neji just asked me if I had…?"

"Oji-chan!" Tenten called.

An old, wrinkled man appeared from the back room, and Sakura was amazed that he could walk so gracefully considering his age.

"Ah, if it isn't Tenten. Back for more?" He smiled kindly at her, and then caught sight of Sakura staring at him. "And you've brought a friend as well!"

He rubbed his hands together as if creating some genius plan. He beckoned to both girls, and said mischievously, "You know, Tenten, you are my greatest customer."

The listeners nodded attentively.

"Then, because you so fancy this katana, I'll give you a discount!"

Tenten face broke into a huge smile. "Really! Aaaaah! Thank you! Thank you! Yes! The world is so kind to me! Thank you dear lord!"

Sakura and the old man watched her prance around the room, coming very close to some dangerous looking swords. Then quick as a flash, she appeared beside Sakura, leaning intently towards the shopkeeper.

"So, Oji-chan," she whispered, "what's the deal?"

"Deal?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, yes," the old man replied, "If I give Tenten a discount, I'll always ask for a deal. She likes the fights most, though. But never has she actually beaten me."

"Awwww, you just go really hard on me!" Tenten pouted.

"F-f-fights?" Sakura stuttered. And this old man was able to beat Tenten?

"Oh, yes. You know, Tenten, I still remember that one time where I had absolutely no weapons and I still managed to…"

"Oji-chan!" Tenten interrupted, "We don't need to go into detail about that! And besides," she added, with a pointed look to the sky, "we don't have enough time…it's gonna start raining."

Sakura was starting to get a cramped back from leaning down to the old man's level. What was up with him and Tenten anyway? It was like they were related or something, the way they talked…

"Alright then. So, this pink-haired girl, want that kunai?"

'Pink haired!' Inner Sakura screamed, 'who does he think he is!'

"My name is Sakura," she spoke through gritted teeth, "and I think I'll take a pass, it's a little expensive…for me."

"Oooooh?" The old man inquired, his judging expression putting Sakura on edge, "then I guess my dear Tenten here… will not get her discount."

Crap. She _was_ right about the genius plan. Stupid old man.

"What!" Tenten yelled, her observation of the overcast sky being ruined, "No! Oji-chan!"

"Eh…um…I really actually should get going…" stammered Sakura.

"Oooooh?" The old man repeated, with an even more suspicious expression "but isn't Tenten your friend? Don't you want her to get the thing that she wants most?"

Crap crap.

"Well, yeah…" It was like Sakura was being pushed into a wall. Just who was this guy!

"PLEEEAAASE Sakura!" begged Tenten, "I will become your best friend, I will give you an early birthday present, I will…um… I WILL GIVE YOU SASUKE!!!"

Now she was just desperate. Very, very desperate.

Sakura's eyebrow was twitching like crazy. The old man was standing smug, and if she hadn't known that he could beat Tenten without any weapons, she would've liked to punch him pretty hard.

She sighed deeply, "Guess I have no choice."

"Really! Aaaaah! Thank you! Thank you! Yes! The world is so kind to me! Thank you dear lord!"

Sakura stared open mouth at her. This again?

*

"Wow Tenten," Sakura observed, "you really do love weapons."

Tenten just laughed, giving a fond look to the shiny katana strapped to her back. The clouds were threatening to open up on them, and a loud rumble went through the sky.

Sakura, hoping that she would be able to get home before it started to rain, was just about ask Tenten if she had an umbrella, when the girl beside her stopped abruptly and gasped.

"Tenten," Sakura panicked, "are – are you okay? Did you have a heart attack? Sprain your foot? Oh my gosh, please don't make me do CPR on you!"

"Sakura," Tenten breathed, "Neji just asked you… if you had seen me."

Sakura stopped panicking.

"Wha – Oooh, I nearly forgot about that. So what?"

She could've sworn she saw a tender look in Tenten's eyes before they merged into a suspicious look. But Tenten? Neji? Tender? Nah, those words were almost… (Vision of them killing each other)…disturbing.

Tenten was standing shock still in the middle of the deserted pathway, thoughts running through her head.

'Maybe he wants revenge for the way I treated him. No, that doesn't sound like him. Wait! What if he wants to kill me for skipping practice! Okay, calm down Tenten. Well, I did practically avoid him for half a week. What you need to do is find out why he needed me so that I can know whether it's safe to walk out in the open, or hide out somewhere in Suna. Yes, Suna doesn't sound bad…not bad at all…'

"Sakura!" Tenten declared, looking at the girl…wait, where did she go?

"Sakura?" Tenten called, looking about for a girl dressed in pink. Perhaps she got scared of the thunder.

'Not to worry!' Tenten told herself, 'Plan B! I will go find Hinata!'

* (End Flashback)

So here she was, drenched in rain, branches poking into her sides and leaves poking into her eyes. 'Why did the Hyuuga's need trees with about a thousand branches and needle leaves!?'

Well, on the bright side, her genius plan was going well. She had bribed Hinata into doing this for her by promising to help her get another 'outing' with Naruto. First Sakura with Sasuke, and now Hinata with Naruto; why did it have to be the first thing that popped into her mind?

She squinted to see what she was doing. It was hard with the rain pouring down, and her eyes were brimming with tears due to huge sneezes.

The plan was for Hinata to walk down the hallway, enter Neji's room, (that part was very important, due to her shyness) and casually ask him why he wanted to see Tenten. Then she had to rush back outside, and _immediately_ (this was emphasized) report to Tenten for the safety of the bun-haired girl. Just in case he decided that he _did_ want to kill her.

"Achoo!"

Damn. Stupid rain. Why did it rain on the day when her life was on the line?

"Achoo!"

No, she couldn't, could she? No, she definitely did not…

"Achoo!"

…catch a cold. True enough, she was shivering all over and the freezing rain was seeping into her clothes. She never wanted to have a hot bath so much in her life.

"Achoo!"

"Tenten?"

Wait. What? No, no, no, no. That was most certainly not Hinata.

Tenten shook her head. The cold was making her woozy. She was just imagining things.

"Tenten, what are you doing outside my house?"

…or not.

*

"N-N-Neji!" Tenten stuttered through numb lips. She stood up abruptly, but the motion caused her to totter slightly on the branch.

She groaned. One Neji was becoming two, and two were becoming three. The cold was making her dizzy, and a huge throbbing became painfully evident.

"Achoo!" That last sneeze shook her whole frame, and was big enough to topple her balance on the swinging branch.

"Tenten? Tenten!?"

His concerned voice was fading out rapidly, and the last thing she felt was a rush of air and a jolt as strong arms wrapped around her.

*

"Eeeeeugh."

Neji was startled from his slouch position his seat next to Hinata's bed. With a worried face, he observed the girl groaning from an obvious cold.

"Tsk. Tenten you are…" he trailed off, unsure of how to describe her.

"Am what?" Tenten rasped through a sore throat, recovering in time to hear Neji's musings.

"You are incredible." He finished, smirking infuriatingly.

Tenten opened one eye suspiciously and sat up. He hadn't caught her cold, had he? She snorted, which set off a chain effect of coughing.

"Yes, I caught a cold and I am weak and stupid. I'm incredible aren't I?"

An awkward silence followed, Tenten hoping that Neji would just _ask_ her.

"So how-"

"What were you doing outside my house?" Neji said simply.

Tenten bit her lip worriedly, breathing in and out of her mouth. Her eyes slid to the left and debated on telling him the truth or just avoid the subject.

"Please tell me the truth, Tenten."

She nearly swallowed her tongue, fearful of what else he could read inside her mind. 'Perhaps I can make it if I lie to him…"

She looked up at him, a lie ready to spring from her mouth, but when she saw his face, unexpectedly caring and innocent, her heart gave a thump and… and…

"I heard you were looking for me and I was so scared that you were angry at me." She whispered, her eyes turning downward.

Neji took one look at her, her face exposed and knew everything was out in the open.

He gave her an uncomfortable one armed hug, and when Tenten looked up in alarm, she saw his face adorned with a blush, but grateful that she had told him the truth.

"I'm so sorry Tenten, I'm—oh!"

The couple heard the clutter and sprang apart like two opposite magnetic forces.

"Hinata!" Tenten called to the blushing girl, her trembling arms about to spill the tray of tea.

Hinata hesitated at the doorway, giving a quick glance at Neji, then Tenten, then back to Neji.

"Um…perhaps I should go—"

"No! Come! Come and sit with me!" Tenten persisted, patting a spot beside her.

Neji raised an eyebrow. He knew Tenten tended to get slightly hyped when she was flustered, but this?

"So! How's it going?" Tenten asked, her voice sounding slightly hysterical.

"Uh…"

"It's ok Hina, Neji and I were just talking, right Neji?" Tenten said, looking round to the said person. Her head swivelled to the chair that Neji…just disappeared from.

Tenten: twitch twitch 'that coward'

"Tenten I am so sorry!" cried Hinata, "I only realised Neji had gone when nobody answered, and I was going to tell you when I saw him holding you and –"

"What!" Tenten spit out the tea that she had just drunk, the hot liquid scalding her hand and staining the blankets.

While Hinata was glad of the distraction and fussed over her burnt fingers, Tenten was mortified out of her wits.

'Neji…was holding me?'

* * *

A Special Case:WAAAAaaaa! I'm sorry! I had heaps of trouble with this chapter, and I was really stuck on it so just treat it as an inbetween chapter, ok!  
But...I have good news! Next chapter is the sleepover! Yes! The scene which we have been waiting for! Keep tuning in to see which secrets are kept and which will be forced out into the open!

A Random Stranger: That was...random.

A Special Case: 'pout' 'tears well up' I am random! Suck it up!


	6. Chapter 6

A Special Case: HELLO!!! Read this first please! Now, since this is the sleepover, it's a little long so I've spread it over to two chapters. There really isn't anything different because I'm releasing them at the same time. So, enjoy!!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

"Tenten I am so sorry!" cried Hinata, "I only realised Neji had gone when nobody answered, and I was going to tell you when I saw him holding you and –"

"What!" Tenten spit out the tea that she had just drunk, the hot liquid scalding her hand and staining the blankets.

While Hinata was glad of the distraction and fussed over her burnt fingers, Tenten was mortified out of her wits.

'Neji…was holding me?'

**Chapter 6**

Sakura tapped impatiently on the glass door of the Yamanaka flower shop. It was freezing, and she was wrapped up in a number of jackets, jumpers, scarves, socks, and pants.

Not many people came out today, and the street was almost barren. Even the stalls were closed as no-one wanted to stand in the cold for a whole day.

Sakura raised her fist to hit it again, when the door opened and Shikamaru's bored face stared back at her.

"Sh-Shikamaru?"

"Don't ask," he said, lazily waving her in, "What are you doing here?"

Sakura didn't answer at first. In fact, she couldn't actually grasp why she _was _here. All she could think about was how she would never leave this warm haven for the bitter sting outside.

"Oh! Sakura!"

Sakura looked up to see Ino bounding down the stairs with a casual sun dress on.

"Ino!" she cried, "Do you know how cold it is outside! I was standing there for two minutes waiting for you to open the door, and I nearly froze to death!"

"Ahh.." Ino tilted her head up in thought, then put on her best puppy dog face.

"Buuut, you're fine now, aren't you?"

Sakura: sweatdrop 'that wasn't the point'

"So! Sakura, come on! I have everything prepared." Ino started to chatter excitedly and forcefully pulled Sakura up to the house.

"Huh? Wha- Oh!" Sakura exclaimed. The sleepover! Of course! How could she forget; Ino was talking about it all week. They had both been looking forward to the girl talk for ages.

She looked back, and saw Shikamaru still standing there, a faraway look in his eyes. No doubt he was thinking about clouds…or possibly…

She turned back to Ino quickly in time to see her blond ponytail whipping behind her as she turned from staring over Sakura's head. Her face was obviously flushing a brilliant red as she proceeded to drag Sakura up the stairs, preventing the curious girl from asking anymore questions.

Once in Ino's room, the blond through herself onto her bed, whereas her best friend stayed put, an expecting face directed at Ino.

"What!?" Ino protested when she saw Sakura, her lips pursed and eyes narrow.

"Okay, fine!" Ino huffed, "his mum _just_ happened to be buying groceries when we _just_ happened to be downstairs and my mum _just_ happened to see her and Shikamaru _just_ happened to be with her! Why are you looking at me like that!"

"Oh, I don't know," Sakura nonchalantly said, picking up one of Ino's prized glass animals, "maybe because you keep on saying _just _in an all too convincing way, your face looks like its on fire, and you're extremely nervous."

"What!" Ino denied, "how am I nervous?"

Sakura raised a knowing eyebrow at her. "You said _Shikamaru_. You never say that when you're comfortable."

Ino flopped back onto her bed again, and this time Sakura joined her.

"I just…"

"It's okay, we'll talk about it tonight anyway, right?"

"Ahh…hehehe, yeah." A silence followed, Sakura imagining what it would be like to tell the other two about Ino's secret, and Ino thinking about her relationship with Shikamaru. Perhaps one day, she would tell him.

With a smile, Ino turned to Sakura and resumed her rant on what food they had to eat and which bed they were going to sleep on.

Sakura nodded and smiled, wondering if Shikamaru had Ino worked out this time.

*

"Kyaaaaa! Tenten! Hinata!"

Two girls, closely resembling icicles were greeted warmly by Ino as she and Sakura flew down the stairs to welcome them.

A shouting match ensured after between Tenten and Ino, Tenten accusing Ino of making them wait in the cold and Hinata could've caught pneumonia, with Ino defending her case by saying that she was preparing and there was no way she or Sakura could make it downstairs if they didn't finish doing their hair.

Needless to say, the argument ended when they realised they were the only ones left in the flowery domain.

Upstairs, Sakura and Hinata talked comfortably without the biased opinions of Ino, or the biased opinions of Tenten completely opposite of Ino.

Ahhh. Peace.

*

The four girls sprawled over the makeshift beds on the floor. They had already watched about one and a half movies, and stuffed themselves full of chips, chocolate and other junk food with about 100 calories in ever gram.

And the night was still early.

It was in fact fine; the girls liked it this way. They all knew that they could talk for nearly a day and still not run out of things to gossip about.

"Alright," Ino declared, rolling on to her belly, a tug at the corner of her lips.

By that one word, the other three girls simultaneously turned to face each other, each in anticipation of the long night to come, not to mention secrets that had to be spilled.

Tenten glanced at the clock; "It's nearly ten," she murmured.

Sakura giggled, she couldn't contain herself from the happiness randomly bubbling up, it had been so long since they could have a limitless night of girl talk.

"So," Ino said, her eyebrow raising at Sakura, "since you seem so happy, we'll interrogate you first."

"What!" Sakura protested. She looked over to Tenten for support, but the older girl was looking at her expectantly. Hinata too, was unable to resist.

Sakura's mouth gaped like a fish. How could they turn the tables like this! Well, someone did have to start first.

"Okay… what do you want to know?" Her voice was slow and steady; you had to tread carefully when around these areas. Especially with Ino.

"Everything!" Ino gushed, "Spill the beans on you and Sasuke, every little detail. What you've said the last week, what you've discussed, what his expressions were, everything that has mentioned progress!"

Sakura, Tenten, Hinata: sweatdrop.

"Aaaaah, don't you think you're a little… enthusiastic, Ino?" Tenten asked.

"What! It's good to be enthusiastic, I feel refreshed and happy that Sakura has a new relationship with Sasuke!" Ino said.

"What!" Sakura was incredibly confused, "What new relationship with Sasuke?"

"Oh, spill the beans, Sakura," Ino said irritably, "Hinata confessed that she saw you and Sasuke at a dango stall, and you were staring at him and blushing and couldn't take your eyes off hi-"

"Okay, okay!" Sakura interrupted, "So I had no change and he offered to buy it for me. That's it!"

Silence.

"Uh… guys?"

Silence.

Synchronized gasp.

"OH MY GOSH, why didn't you tell us earli-"

"Sakura, do you know what this means? He could-"

"I'm so sorry I told Ino, it's just that she was pressuring m-"

"- and we could have planned something-"

"- you'll be the first one to melt his icy demeanor or something-"

"- and…Tenten, shut up, I'm giving her advice."

"-oh wow…Ino, I'm giving her a low-down of her future and predictions of what Sasuke could be feeling like _and _giving her advice. Don't you think that beats you?"

"Wha- I'm the one who Hinata came to to tell me about this-"

"Only because she was scared of you because you pressured her…"

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"You shut up!"

"You shut-"

"SHUT UP!"

Silence.

Sakura, who was trying to calm down a frustrated Ino and Tenten, looked towards Hinata, her mouth gaping open again.

"Ehehehe, Hina-chan!" Tenten said, "Don't be mad, 'kay?"

"Oh, look at that!" Ino said, "We stopped fighting so you can smile again and stop doing that scary face, ne, Hina-chan?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. 'Why is it when I do that, they just beat me up?'

"So, about Sasuke and Sakura," Ino declared, plopping back onto her pillow, "we need you to give us a second by second detailed time frame."

"Yes, that's right," Tenten seconded.

The three girls directed their scarily innocent faces towards Sakura as she recounted exactly what happened on that day.

*

"-and then I turned around and he had gone!" she finished with a flourish, her eyes half closed reliving the scene.

The other three girls had dreamy faces as they breathed out a romantic sigh.

"That's so sweet," Hinata whispered.

Tenten nodded her agreement. She never really talked to Sasuke or anything, but right then, she sort of envied Sakura and would've given…pretty much anything to be in her place.

Ino was on the verge of tears. She was so happy for her best friend!

"Waaaaaa!" Ino abruptly threw herself onto Sakura, dragging flattening Hinata's head and jabbing Tenten's cheek with her elbow.

Chaos ensured for a few minutes until they all calmed down and carefully removed their arms and legs from the tangle.

Ino sighed. She would give anything for…

"Ino?"

Ino looked up to see the girls staring at her.

"Oh, I'm fine. So let's talk about you and Sasuke, Sakura. What do you feel for him." The last sentence was exaggerated and Ino said it with pretend sincerity.

Sakura hit Ino lightly and then let her head fall back into the pillow. The other girls gave her their full attention as she started to talk.

'What do I feel for him?' Sakura thought as she stared up at the inky darkness of the roof.

"Perhaps," she began, "he thinks that…we might be good…friends. You know," she added, "now that I've 'changed' and stuff."

A silence ensured where the air became thick with thoughts and opinions.

"I think we would be good friends too." Sakura continued. A small smile lit her face as she remembered the past years where she had pined after Sasuke's every step.

The year after that was a year of rejection, but a vow of strength kept her going and now…

"So you're not going to do anything?" Ino asked carefully.

Sakura turned over and buried her face in her pillow.

"I don't know," her muffled voice spoke, "I think that I still like him but…maybe if we start off as friends it will be better."

"Sakura?" Ino whispered, her eyes wide. She gently pressed the pillow down and made a soft cooing noise as she saw tears adorning the pink-hair girl's face.

"Oh, Sakura. I'm sure that whatever happens, there'll be a reason for it."

This was a side of Ino that was reserved for only the most emotional moments of her friends. Tenten rubbed Sakura's back as she sniffled and wiped the tears back.

"But that doesn't stop us from getting you and Sasuke together!"

Sakura, Tenten, Hinata: sweatdrop. 'Knew it wouldn't last'

*

Sasuke sneezed heavily, and looked round suspiciously. He was already wrapped up well for the storm, and even a little warm.

Someone must've been thinking of him. He smirked, then continued walking.

'Sakura.'

* * *

A Special Case: Waaaaa! Sasuke!! (sniff snif)

A Random Stranger: Sasuke? Hey, hands off, he's mine!

A Special Case: Hey, I established his character, I deserve him, don't I? (puppy dog eyes)

A Random Stranger: Aww, fine. You win. But I get Shika!

A Special Case: No way! (catfight ensures) Anyway, thanx for reading part 1 of the sleepover, and now press that arrow and go on to read part 2!!


	7. Chapter 7

A Special Case: Yay! Part 2 coming up!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

"I don't know," her muffled voice spoke, "I think that I still like him but…maybe if we're just friends it will be better."

"Sakura?" Ino whispered, her eyes wide. She gently pressed the pillow down and made a soft cooing noise as she saw tears adorning the pink-hair girl's face.

"Oh, Sakura. I'm sure that whatever happens, there'll be a reason for it."

This was a side of Ino that was reserved for only the most emotional moments of her friends. Tenten rubbed Sakura's back as she sniffled and wiped the tears back.

"But that doesn't stop us from getting you and Sasuke together!"

Sakura, Tenten, Hinata: sweatdrop. 'Knew it wouldn't last'

*

Sasuke sneezed heavily, and looked round suspiciously. He was already wrapped up well for the storm, and even a little warm.

Someone must've been thinking of him. He smirked, then continued walking.

'Sakura.'

**Chapter 7**

"Speaking of getting people together, shouldn't we first know who we're getting together?" Sakura interjected quickly, afraid of incoming plans that would most likely mess up.

"Huh?" Tenten asked. Hinata cocked her head to the side. She also didn't know what Sakura was talking about.

Ino, however, knew _exactly_ who that was directed to.

"Sakura," she said through gritted teeth, sending a murderous death glare that way.

Sakura just grinned cheekily and winked at her, laughing like hell inside.

"Yes, Ino? We talked about this, what are you waiting for?"

Tenten got it.

"No! Ino! Wow. Okay, why didn't you tell us earlier?" Tenten shot her different emotions at once, then proceeded to bombard her with questions.

"Wo, wo, wo! Tell you what?" Ino asked.

"That you liked Shikamaru!" Tenten gallantly shouted.

Ino's mouth gawped open. "Shout it to the world, will you?" she whispered in shock.

"Ooooh. Inooo. Now your secret's out, how about you explain to us all about this 'special crush'?" Sakura vaguely said, inspecting her nails.

"You! You, you…you!" Ino hissed at her.

"Ooooh. Getting violent now, are you?" Sakura was clearly enjoying this; everyone could clearly see that she was bursting to laugh.

"Oh! Do tell! Do tell!" Tenten gasped. Hinata nodded fiercely. She also wanted to know how Ino jumped from Sasuke to Shikamaru. Shikamaru of all people!

"Okay," Ino gave in. Believe it or not, she was willing to have it out and lifted from her shoulders.

"I don't really know, but the first time I looked at him and really felt…well, I don't know what I felt, but it sort of a…" Ino looked down almost embarrassed to say it, "a clenching of the heart, I suppose. Yes, it was about two weeks ago…"

* (Flashback)

They were going to the Rain village because of an easy mission of protecting once another stuck up bitch. That was Ino's point anyway.

What did that stupid brunette see in Shikamaru anyway? The picky princess had been non-stop flirting with Shika since he had been assigned to be her personal bodyguard.

Flicking her hair, snuggling up close to him, tugging on his clothes, and what Ino was disgusted by most: playing with his hair.

She wasn't saying his hair was hers, no, of course not! But Shika's ponytail had always been _her_ toy for her whole life. Who did that princess think she was, just coming in and taking her place!?

That's it! She felt like she was being replaced.

"Ino," Sakura said gently, "We get the point: you hate her."

"Oh, fine," Ino huffed but continued.

That night, the princess invited Shika to sleep in her tent. He seemed to really like her, so Ino didn't say anything, but sent death glares at both of them when she thought no-one was looking.

Shika, obviously, refused, going so far as to pry the princess's arm of his, and dump her inside. Ino was a little happier seeing that.

However, when the night grew dark and was dotted with stars, Ino found she couldn't sleep. Even though she chanted, 'sleep, sleep, sleep' in her head, her attention was caught by the pineapple haired boy sitting right in her view.

He, unluckily, had to stay up. She peeked through her eyelashes at him, making sure he didn't see her staring. Usually, she would have a compulsive feeling to order him around. Or to tell him to stop sleeping. Or to hit him.

But now, she felt at peace just…looking at him. She giggled quietly when his head drooped down and then shot up again, eyes wide.

She smiled under her sleeping bag. He was really cute.

For a second, Ino didn't move. She wasn't already in a dream, right? She pinched her self hard. Okay… she was not in an illusion or any type of possession. So why did she say he was really cute?

She tilted her head to the side. Well, there was no denying it; he was cute. She swore she could feel her heart hitch a little to the side, and found it hard to swallow.

She continued watching him for another hour; she couldn't sleep a single wink. His face was just…mesmerising. Each time the flames' shadow licked across his face, her heart would give another hitch, and she would feel like laughing and crying at the same time.

It was that night when Ino realised she loved Shikamaru.

* (End Flashback)

Hinata let out a contented sigh; that was so emotional and beautiful!

Tenten had a huge smile on her face. If Ino was happy, she was relieved. It was one less friend to worry about.

Sakura could see that Ino was taken by Shikamaru. She just didn't want it to be a small crush, something that Ino would get sick of and knowing Ino, she was scared that Shikamaru would get hurt. Well, if they ended up together, she was sure that they would at least last a month. 'Haha, I'm such a bad friend.'

Ino smiled and relaxed her shoulders. She could feel a huge weight lifted off her. Sakura was right; it did feel better when it was out and you could talk about it freely with someone.

Hinata glanced at the clock. She couldn't see it in the dark and asked Ino if she had a watch. Tenten glanced at her, surprised, and said that it must be past twelve by now.

'Twelve!' Hinata thought. And she wasn't even sleepy yet?

"Hinata!" Sakura scolded, "You aren't thinking of going to sleep, are you? And hoping to miss out on your turn?"

"Wha- No! No, of course not!" Hinata protested, throwing her hands up. Of course, it hadn't been her intention to do so at first, but now it seemed like a good possibility…

"That's a great idea, Sakura! Hinata, you're next. Spill!" Ino demanded.

Hinata never thought those words could scare her that much. She looked to Tenten for moral support, but Tenten avoided her gaze. Even with two against two, no-one was a match for the combo force of Sakura and Ino.

So with a heavy heart, Hinata started her story.

First, she told them about her date, and Tenten's encouragement to treat Naruto as a friend. Ino gave Tenten thumbs up for that, and even Sakura was surprised that Hinata hadn't fainted yet.

Hinata got up to the part where she had seen Sakura and Sasuke fleetingly through the crowds, and hesitated. She wasn't sure how to word the next bit.

"Well, the crowds were quite busy, and I got stuck in between two boys, a little older than me."

Ino's eyes grew to the size of saucers, knowing that later she would go punch the people who dared touch such an innocent girl like Hinata.

Tenten squealed uncharacteristically, visualising a red-faced chibi Hinata stuck in the crowd with a smiling chibi Naruto trying to drag her out.

"Awww, how cuute!"

"And then, one of them turned to me and said…"

"Yes, Hinata," Sakura probed, "what did he say?"

"…He said 'do you wanna have some fun with us!?" The sentence was rushed so the girls didn't hear it clearly at first, but when they worked it out…

"Alright," Tenten yelled, "where are those groping, dirty, perverted, slimy, sleezy, retarded bastards!"

"Tenten, please don't beat them up. Naruto did that." Hinata whispered.

"What!?" Ino's eyes were larger than saucers.

Sakura and Tenten gasped and settled down in a flash to listen to the rest of Hinata's story.

"Yes, he told them to keep their hands off me, and then when they refused, he punched them!" Hinata still remembered the fluttering in her chest when saw him fighting…for her.

Ino noticed the way Hinata said her words, and she was sure the others noticed too. There was a sense of pride and love, and what was with the happy face when she said 'he punched them!' Naruto indeed was the right person for that shy little girl.

"But, he just sees me as a friend, and I don't know if he'll ever know that I love him."

Her sad tone nearly brought Tenten to tears.

"Hinata," Sakura said kindly, "I think you're doing the best you can. When he grows more mature, I'm sure Naruto will notice."

"You really think so?"

"Hey!" Tenten said, "What is with the glumness? I'm sure that everything is going as well as it can be going, and who cares if we make a mess. It's life, and you're meant to live it."

Seeing their faces lighting up again gave Tenten hope.

"You know what? I'm going to set out our mission plan." She stated.

"Mission plan?" Question marks were practically visible atop the girls' heads.

"Well, you all have guys which you can't get all on your own. You have to let the rest of us help! That's what friends are for."

All three nodded vigorously.

"So, get Naruto to notice Hinata, make Shikamaru like Ino, and turn Sasuke into a slightly less emo-ish person." Tenten said.

"He is not emo!" Sakura cried, "and what about you, Tenten? We all know about you and Nej-"

"-Oh, it's ok. No-one will ever notice me." The last bit was not spiteful, it was bare honesty. From Tenten's point, of course.

Ino looked at her watch. It was past five. Much too late to start arguing with Tenten, and besides, nothing was going to be accomplished if you tried talking to Tenten about Neji. It was like talking to 'the hand.'

"Let's go to sleep," Hinata suggested, feeling the slight tension in the air.

The others agreed, and lay their sleepy heads down to at least get a small nap before being woken up.

Sakura was thinking of Sasuke, wondering if their relationship could progress with people as different as them two.

Ino was thinking of Shikamaru, knowing that she would have to rely on the girls to get him to fall for her. She wondered if she would ever get the chance to confess, and if she did, she would probably get rejected.

Hinata thought of Naruto and Tenten. She didn't have to worry about Naruto. She was content with being just friends with him, no matter how much she loved him. She hoped that Tenten would find someone that made her as happy as Naruto made Hinata.

Tenten thought of her future, from the next morning to years to pass. She thought of her relationship with Neji, and how lost she would be when he moved up rank and left her behind.

All four girls went to sleep with someone special in their head, a smile on their face, and a heart that was half full.

* * *

A Special Case: Now that the sleepover is over, can I rest for a day before I start typing again? I'm sorta wiped out with holiday homework.  
Besides that, if you've got some really good ideas that you don't mind me 'borrowing' then just slip it in your reviews, cos my brain isn't functioning very well with creativity and new ideas. KK!  
Hope you all have a great first day of school this week! Ciao!


	8. Chapter 8

A Special Case: WAAA!! I'm sorry I have abandoned you for like, a month and a half, but a whole lot of people tried to stop me from continuing my precious story!

A Random Stranger: That sounds suspiciously like an excuse for your major tardiness...

A Special Case: How could you accuse me of that! Anyway, I'm very sorry and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

Ino looked at her watch. It was past five. Much too late to start arguing with Tenten, and besides, nothing was going to be accomplished if you tried talking to Tenten about Neji. It was like talking to 'the hand.'

"Let's go to sleep," Hinata suggested, feeling the slight tension in the air.

The others agreed, and lay their sleepy heads down to at least get a small nap before being woken up.

Sakura was thinking of Sasuke, wondering if their relationship could progress with people as different as them two.

Ino was thinking of Shikamaru, knowing that she would have to rely on the girls to get him to fall for her. She wondered if she would ever get the chance to confess, and if she did, she would probably get rejected.

Hinata thought of Naruto and Tenten. She didn't have to worry about Naruto. She was content with being just friends with him, no matter how much she loved him. She hoped that Tenten would find someone that made her as happy as Naruto made Hinata.

Tenten thought of her future, from the next morning to years to pass. She thought of her relationship with Neji, and how lost she would be when he moved up rank and left her behind.

All four girls went to sleep with someone special in their head, a smile on their face, and a heart that was half full.

**Chapter 8**

Neji was trudging down Konoha Main street as he kicked a stray rock. There were a number of small rips on the sides of his shirt when his training partner's kunais had penetrated.

Tenten had been especially moody today. Normally when she was moody (aka. PMS-ing) she would just be a little behind her usual self. However today was… different.

It was like an inner power had reared up inside her, and she was flinging everything at him with all she had. Obviously they had to cut practice short as she was gasping for breath and Neji couldn't take more of her ferocious attitude. She sent him off with a glare that was still fresh in his mind.

He knew she was angry at him, but did he really deserve her trying to murder him? He kicked at another loose pebble, missing and losing his balance.

He brushed himself off and ignored some little children giggling at him. He blamed Tenten. He had been so occupied with her that his performance was a little fuzzy for the past week, and had more than one person ask him if he was okay.

Perhaps he had not noticed something? Or too untactful? No, Tenten would have told him if something was wrong, so what happened? He couldn't keep training like this, or else he would have to resort to Lee. He let out a slight shudder at the image of green spandex.

He would consult Hinata the first chance he got. They were close friends, so she would know everything…

Neji blinked. Was that … Shikamaru?

Sure enough, the pineapple-haired boy sat glumly at Ichiraku, shoulders hunched over his hands. Neji slid into the seat next to him and called for cold water. Shikamaru tilted his head tiredly and shot up a quizzical brow.

"Tenten's trying to kill me."

Shikamaru nodded absentmindedly. He had been observant enough to notice the bun-haired girl avoiding the Hyuuga the past week; the training session was bound to go wrong.

"What's up with you? Aren't you supposed to be with your team?" Neji asked.

"Yeah," Shikamaru replied, "but Asuma's on a mission and Chouji's sick, and Ino… Ino is…"

"Being weird?" Neji suggested.

Shikamaru sighed. Dropping his head, he recounted to Neji how strange his morning experience was…

*(Flashback)

"Shika!"

Shikamaru raised his head of his hands temporarily to see Ino running and waving. Whatever.

His eyes closed peacefully again, hoping to find a silent place before Ino got here. When he couldn't feel the kick in his side, his eyes curiously opened to find Ino's face uncomfortably close to his.

"Ah!" He yelled on a reflex and stumbled to a stand, his eyes opened wide.

Ino looked offended and a little guilty, and mumbled a tiny sorry to the ground.

"What the heck, Ino? Have you heard of personal space?" Shikamaru would normally have dismissed it as one of the weird things his friend did, but this really shook him.

"I said I was sorry! Why do you have to be so difficult!" she yelled back, her attitude changing in a second.

Shikamaru breathed out calmly, steadying his beating heart which was still pumping fast. "You're right. I'm sorry. Let's just train."

Ino rolled her eyes and started to do a routine warm up. He glanced over at her, noticing how her hair was done just a little higher, the tips of her hair just touching the grass. And did she pull her skirt up higher? Because he could see more than normal…

He jerked his head round embarrassedly, not believing he had just _perved_ on his female friend. For the second time that day, he had to breathe deeply. It was just a phase, he reassured himself. There was nothing he did wrong, he just happened to look that way. Right?

"So where's Chouji?" Ino asked brightly, trying to make conversation.

"Ummm, sick. Yeah, he's sick today, so it's just us." Shikamaru awkwardly answered. For some reason, the training session just between him and Ino seemed ominous.

They finished stretching in silence, both avoiding looking at each other.

Since when did it become weird between him and Ino? Shikamaru brushed of some grass from his pants. The last time they were alone together was, maybe last month? Did everything really change that drastically?

He shook his head. No, soon Ino would start chatting unstoppably and he would nod in agreement without actually listening to her and everything would go back to normal.

They faced each other in battle position. The grass swayed gracefully in the breeze, and Shikamaru swore he could smell Ino's perfume when the wind circulated around them. He noticed how her hair reflected the morning sun, and how goose bumps rose up on her arm where the wind touched.

It felt like he was standing there for hours, just observing her. She was breathing more heavily than normal, even though neither of them had moved. Her eyes seemed caught in his, and as every moment passed, she looked like she had trouble taking in air.

He snapped out of it.

He felt like slapping himself. If he froze up like that again, he'd be dead in a second! He turned his thoughts back to the fight. Or more like non-fight.

Ino wasn't moving. She was always the one who moved first. She stood there, her eyes frozen in his, her fingers curled slightly as if they were unable to budge from that position.

Shikamaru sighed. This wasn't working. Maybe she was thinking too hard about a new technique?

"Maybe you should take a break, Ino." He said carefully, in case he stepped in any sensitive spots. She didn't move. Shikamaru started to get really worried. Maybe a direct approach would be bad. Conversation, perhaps?

"So, I heard the sand siblings are coming to Konoha." He said, wincing as the obvious tone of fake happiness was heard.

"Sand siblings?" He heard her mutter.

Shikamaru relaxed. Thank god she was okay. He was seriously freaked out.

"Uhhh… yeah. You know, Gaara, and Temari, and Kankuro?" Uhhh, this really wasn't his thing.

"Temari." Her eyebrows creased just the slightest.

"Umm, yeah. You do remember Temari, right? You know, tall blonde, pretty girl?" He cringed at the last few words. In truth, all he remembered about the sand sibling was limited, but he needed Ino to react.

"You think she's pretty?" Her eyes widened just the slightest, and her mouth was left opened. Shikamaru glanced at her face, written with hurt.

"What! No!" he backtracked, "I didn't mean that! Well, yes, I guess she's pretty but I don't really remem..." He trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes. What the heck was wrong with her! First she started acting weird, now she was practically frozen! He was tempted to go and shake her, but he knew that would make it worse.

Ino was still in her fighting stance, but her hand dropped limply to her side. Her head hung down as she spun on her heel and raced off into the distance.

Shikamaru was left behind.

He fell onto the grass, pounding out frustration with his fists. _Great_! He just _had_ to say that, didn't he! He felt like swearing, really bad. Tomorrow, tomorrow he would make it up to her. The thing was, he didn't know what he did _wrong_. He kicked a tree nearby, which only stung his toe, which made him glare at the tree. With a resigned sigh, he set off to Ichiraku, hoping that maybe he could find some comfort there.

Tomorrow, he would go find Sakura.

*(End Flashback)

"Ah." Neji observed. "I see."

"See what?" Shikamaru grumbled, "how much of a friggin' temper Ino has?" He sighed. Anger would get him nowhere.

"What I don't understand is why she cried when you mentioned Temari was pretty." A voice said from Shikamaru's other side.

"Naruto!" Neji exclaimed.

The blond boy was tilting his squinted eyes to the roof, thinking of the possible reasons why Ino and Temari were linked.

"Maybe she thought that you thought that Temari's hair was better looking than hers?"

Both boys stared at him blankly.

"You know! Because of their hair! They're both blonds!" Naruto smiled widely. That must have been it!

"Naruto," Neji said, "I don't have that much experience with girls, but I don't think Ino would take her hair so seriously."

"I don't know," Shikamaru murmured, deep in thought. "Ino's always treasured her hair. Anyway, I'm going to ask Sakura about it tomorrow. Hopefully, she'll be able to help."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Another voice said.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, "You freaked me out! Don't do that!"

"Speak for yourself," Neji muttered.

"Why wouldn't I want to ask Sakura?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because she has issues," the Uchiha simply replied.

"She doesn't have issues!" Naruto defended, "She just doesn't like you!"

"Oh, and you think she likes you too?" He challenged. Naruto hung his head in shame.

"So, might as well tell us, then?" Shikamaru said. And with a grave face, Sasuke began the story…

*(Flashback)

Sasuke joined Team 7 in their usual stretches as they waited for Kakashi to come.

"Good morning Sasuke!" They chorused.

He replied with a disgruntled, "Hn."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Jeez, can't you say _anything_ else?"

"Hn."

"Yeah, Sasuke," Naruto agreed, "can't you say something nice to Sakura?"

"Hn."

"Naruto," Sakura playfully complained, "Stop copying me. Find your own words."

"I'm not copying you!" He said, "I'm defending your honour!"

"Stop defending my honour!"

"But I can't! Sasuke-teme doesn't deserve to say bad things to you!"

"He's not saying bad things to me!"

"How do you know! You don't know how to decipher his 'Hn's!"

"Well I know that he doesn't mean to insult me!"

"Stop defending him!"

"I'm not defending him! I'm just saying you're wrong!"

For some reason, one word from the Uchiha had started a full scale fight.

"Shut up! Just shut up, Naruto!" Sakura screamed. Both were panting heavily, Sakura's eyes full of rage while Naruto was scared out of his wits.

"You have to stop looking at me." She said quietly. "You have to learn to look around you, to the better things outside the tiny box that's your brain!" Her voice escalated.

"You have no idea what other people think of you because you don't even acknowledge them! Do you know that! You don't care that there is a girl watching you everyday, just wanting you to _see_ her!"

"But I see everyone…"

"That's not the point!" she interrupted. "You have no idea what an inspiration you are to her! You have no idea that she is where she's at now because of you! And you know what? To her, talking to you would make her as happy as you would be if you became Hokage!" She calmed down slightly. "I'm sorry, Naruto, that I yelled at you. But you needed to know that."

Sasuke thought that was a good point to intervene.

"Hn."

"You!" Sakura screamed, turning on the dark-haired boy. "You are so annoying! You think you own the world but there are another few billion who live on this planet! Did you know _that_! I don't even know why I put up with the both of you! Her voice was starting to become hoarse, but she wanted to make one last point.

"Sasuke, you need to respect other people, not just yourself. You may be a prodigy, but guess what? We aren't! We're a _team_! Teams stick together. We help each other. You can't expect us to leave you alone, and we rely on you to help us too! You think that we're all stupid because we don't know what sort of pain your past had! Well, we certainly know now, because you treat us as if we're dead! Like we're useless!"

Sakura was breathing heavily, her voice box dry from screaming so much.

"I need to go now." She whispered, walking steadily back to the village central.

Silence ensued.

"Shit."

*(End Flashback)

"Well…" Neji began.

"Yea…" Shikamaru said.

"I guess I'll be going to Hinata for answers." Shikamaru sighed.

"Yeah, that's where I'm going too." Neji said.

"Wait, what's wrong with Tenten?" Naruto asked.

"She probably tried to kill Neji," Sasuke answered.

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"I feel for you."

"So, should we all go to Hinata together?" All of them envisioned a stuttering Hinata trying to understand their awkward stories.

"Yeah, we should all go together."

* * *

A Special Case: So there it is! Chapter 8, which took me a long time to write cos I had to reread everything cos I forgot... hehehe. Anyway, if you have any great ideas or ideas that you think would be good for this story, keep sending them to me! And please review! I need your reviews!


	9. Chapter 9

A Special Case: Hi, I'd like to say that I'm really sorry but I wrote half of the story before I realised that Tenten's birthday is on the 9th of March so let's just say that this story began after her birthday, ok?

And I would have gotten this out yesterday, but I accidentally saved a much shorter copy over it and had to RETYPE everything.

I'm also sorry that this chapter is double the length of my other chapters, but I got a little carried away, hehe...

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

"Well…" Neji began.

"Yea…" Shikamaru said.

"I guess I'll be going to Hinata for answers." Shikamaru sighed.

"Yeah, that's where I'm going too." Neji said.

"Wait, what's wrong with Tenten?" Naruto asked.

"She probably tried to kill Neji," Sasuke answered.

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"I feel for you."

"So, should we all go to Hinata together?" All of them envisioned a stuttering Hinata trying to understand their awkward stories.

"Yeah, we should all go together."

**Chapter 9**

27th March.

Hinata stretched and yawned with her eyes still closed, sleep weighing her down. Rubbing at her eyes, she looked up to see Hanabi sitting on her bed, giggling happily.

"Hanabi!" Hinata exclaimed, seeing her younger sister had found the present she hid.

"Good morning, sister!" Hanabi greeted, "isn't it such a wonderful day for my birthday? The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, I don't have to go to school, and my big sister has given me a boootiful bracelet!"

She proceeded to drag Hinata's duvet around her like a cloak and prance around the room, opening the drapes with a flourish. Hinata sighed and smiled gently. Her sister was a little strange sometimes, but she loved her very much. She swung her legs off the bed and padded over to her dresser.

Father had always insisted a big banquet for birthdays. Today was no exception. She might have perhaps two hours before she had to get dressed in a silk kimono. She loved birthdays, but the traditional Hyuuga celebration was a little too much sometimes.

Well, at least the girls would be coming.

"Ah!" yelled Hanabi from the window, "They're here!"

Changing into a casual skirt and t-shirt, Hinata followed the hyper Hanabi downstairs to meet her friends. She walked into a classic scene of three girls hugging and kissing a very smug child, happily accepting gifts that she would tear open three seconds later.

Ino, Sakura and Tenten ran upstairs after the birthday girl, taking Hinata along with them. The poor girl was still half asleep, and her stomach had started growling.

After half an hour, a shower, and a giggly chat, the five girls advanced back downstairs for breakfast. This was the first time they were this early. Normally they arrived after breakfast, but Hiashi thought Hanabi was old enough to steal one more hour for fun.

Hinata smiled as the pampered Hanabi bathed in the precious attention of the whole Hyuuga family. Breakfast was a fun affair, and for once, the young Hyuuga was able to laugh to her hearts content. She was turning eight, and even Hiashi couldn't deny her joy.

Sakura had given her a hair pin, a strong one to hold her bun in. Ino had given her a gorgeous mirror with a border of butterflies. Tenten had given her a game of darts, of which she squealed excitedly upon opening it. Hanabi liked nothing more than dressing up and looking pretty, and playing with dangerous weapons. Of course, there was her secret crush on Konahomaru, but only the four older girls knew that.

Hinata noticed Tenten staring round suspiciously over her spoon.

"Neji's not here," she quietly said, "he's already eaten, probably."

Tenten blushed a bright red, but muttered a thanks to Hinata. Her shoulders relaxed as she laughed with the others. At least she wouldn't have to worry about him until the luncheon.

Later on, all of the girls had bundled up into the bathroom, not that they needed to squash. Hinata and Hanabi had a sliding door between their bathrooms, so when they opened it up, it was the size of a room and a half.

Ino had brought along her arsenal, a variety of professional kits filled with makeup and hair accessories. The girls liked to do their own makeup, and had fun experimenting on each other.

Hinata was running away from Ino, claiming that turquoise would clash with her eyes, as Sakura put a bright red lipstick on Hanabi's lips, contrasting greatly against her pale face. Tenten sat in the bathtub, looking on with a slightly green face.

"Come on, Tenten!" yelled Sakura, "It's fun!"

Tenten shook her head solemnly. She had never participated, and planned to keep it that way.

"Hahahahahaha!! Sakura, look!"

Sakura spun round to look at a horrified Hinata wearing turquoise eye shadow. She and Hanabi let out peals of laughter, and even Tenten snorted in amusement.

"Waaaa!" Hinata fake cried, "get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"

*

Neji opened the door to find Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru standing awkwardly outside his house.

"Hey, come in."

"Uhhh," Shikamaru started, "we picked him up on the way."

They parted so that a small boy with goggles perched on his head was visible.

"Hi, Neji!" Konohamaru said nervously.

"He said apparently it was Hanabi's birthday today, so we bought some stuff on the way." Shikamaru continued. "You forgot your cousin's birthday?"

"No," Neji lied, "It just slipped my mind."

The others rolled their eyes as they followed him upstairs to the girls' rooms.

"Wow, Neji," Naruto remarked, "your family sure has the money!"

Neji turned round and glanced at the shimmering chandelier next to them; "Yeah, whatever."

Naruto frowned and opened his mouth, but not before Sasuke's bony finger poked him in the back of his head.

"Shut up, dobe. Neji's sensitive about his family."

They climbed the rest of the staircase in a silent procession, the guys not use to such luxury.

They stopped in front of Hinata's room.

"Well, Hanabi is most certainly in there, and after you give her the presents, she'll probably run off to her room." Neji said.

"Well," Naruto raised his fist, "let's do it!"

"Wait!"

Naruto stopped his knuckles an inch from the door.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"I forgot to tell you," Neji explained, his face grim, "we'd better make this quick. The girls normally turn up about now, to help Hanabi prepare for the banquet."

Sasuke paled the slightest bit, as did Naruto. They all looked up at the formidable door, except Konohamaru, who just looked at them confused.

"This is it." Naruto whispered, raising his fist to knock against the wooden door.

*

The girls laughter quelled quickly as a noticeably loud knock resounded through the bathroom.

"Your housekeepers know not to disturb us, right?" whispered Sakura.

"Yes," Hinata replied, frowning, "I don't know who that could be."

The other four girls watched her as she yanked open the heavy door with some force, squeaking, and slamming the door shut again.

She leaned against the door, breathing hard. The girls rushed to her immediately, helping her sit down on the bed.

"Who was it?" Ino asked, "Come on Hinata, who was it?"

"N-N-Nar-Naru—"

"Naruto?" Tenten interrupted, "but why would Naruto be here?"

"And- and-and the others with K-Konohamaru, too!"

This time Hanabi let out a squeak. "Konohamaru is here?"

The other three girls had gone into shock. Ino was breathing heavily, her eyes closed. Sakura was staring off into space, and Tenten had a murderous expression on her face.

They all snapped out of it in a few seconds, and tried to gather their thoughts.

"Okay," Ino whispered, still shaken, "here's the plan. We hide in the bathroom—" gesturing to her, Sakura and Tenten, "and you two open the door."

Hinata swallowed nervously and nodded in agreement. If she had any problems, then she would have the girls for help.

"We can use our mobiles to communicate," Ino said, her game face on, "Hinata, be very careful. Ok? Don't say anything if you're not sure."

Hinata kept nodding as the girls darted over to the bathroom and quietly clicked the door shut. With a deep breath, she walked towards the door.

*

The guys were conversing in low voices, accusing Naruto of scaring Hinata.

"What do we d –"

The door opened, sunlight flooding into the hallway. Hinata stood in the midst of yellow rays, smiling angelically at them. Naruto felt his breath catch as he observed the gorgeous girl before a similar looking Hyuuga with longer hair brushed past her and called "Konohamaru!"

The teenagers looked on a 'Hanabi embracing Konahomaru and he is blushing,' moment. For a few seconds, the 8 year olds stayed like that, with Konahomaru embarrassedly patting her on the back.

With a refreshing smile, Hanabi pulled back and declared "come on, let's go to my room." Turning on the older boys, she sent them a warning glance before dragging the young boy away.

The five 12 year olds stood in silence before Neji asked, "So, can we come in?"

"Oh!" Hinata cried, "I-I'm sorry, of c-course you c-can."

As the boys filed into her room, the atmosphere grew even more tense, and Hinata gestured that they could sit on the couch.

"Uhh," Shikamaru said, "what do we do with Hanabi's presents?"

"Oh! Th-that w-was very n-nice of you," Hinata answered jumpily, "Just p-put them on the b-bed."

The boys shoved the presents in a pile and returned to the couch in a stiff manner.

"So, umm, what's wrong?" she asked.

The boys looked at each other, not wanting to start off their embarrassing situation. In the end, they picked on Neji.

He rolled his eyes and started to explain.

"Hinata, I know you're very good friends with the other girls, but what we say to you, is to be kept to yourself. Okay?"

"Sure. Th-that's fine." Hinata was relieved she didn't have to lie. The girls would already know everything.

"So, we've had some problems with the girls." Neji started.

"And it's affecting the teamwork," Shikamaru put in quickly, scared that Hinata might take it the wrong way.

Behind the bathroom door, the three girls pressed up against the wood could hear everything word perfect. Ino's spirits fell just the slightest when she heard Shikamaru say that it was affecting the teamwork.

'Just the teamwork?' She sadly thought.

"Oh, okay," Hinata answered, "what k-kind o-of problems?"

"Weeell," Naruto said, "for Sasuke and me, Sakura went ballistic at us last training session. She was shouting at me at not noticing anything around me, and something about a girl admiring me—"

At this point, Hinata's eyes widened and she blushed deeply.

"—and she was yelling at Sasuke about how he was such a jerk—"

A tinkling noise from her phone interrupted him, and as Hinata opened it up, she could see it was from Sakura: Sorry :D I was angry.

"—yeah, and then she stormed off and Sasuke swore."

Sasuke hit Naruto in the side. "That's not the point, dobe."

"What!" Naruto protested, "confess it, you were worried about her."

Behind the bathroom door, Sakura held her breath as a euphoric feeling filled her. 'Sasuke was worried about me!'

"No, I was just annoyed that we had to apologise because of your stupidity."

Sakura looked down sadly. 'I knew it was too good to be true.'

"What! I just gave her a compliment. How was I supposed to know she would scream at me?"

"Umm," Hinata cut short their argument, "p-perhaps we sh-should move on. Shikamaru?"

"Oh, okay, so it was Ino and me, and we were just meeting up for training, and all of a sudden she stops moving. Like, just standing there." Shikamaru was staring at his hands, frowning deeply as he recounted his experience. "Then I say, okay, she's not moving, so I thought I might talk to her so she could snap out of it. She was seriously scaring me."

Behind the door, Ino guiltily bit her lip. She couldn't really remember that much. Just his face.

"And so I said the sand siblings were coming to town—" Sasuke gave him a incredulous look, "—What! I was under pressure and it was the first thing that came into my mind!"

Hinata quickly nodded in encouragement, egging him on.

"And I think I mentioned something about Temari, then she just… ran away," he said embarrassedly.

'Of course Ino would go into shock if another girl's name came out of Shikamaru's mouth' Hinata thought.

A vibration told Hinata that she had a message coming her way. 'Most likely Ino,' she supposed.

-say dat ill say soz next time I c him or tell him 2 talk 2 me

Hinata furrowed her brow as she took a little time deciphering Ino's text. Sometimes that girl's vocabulary on the phone amazed her.

"Well, Sh-Shikamaru, I don't know exactly what I-Ino was thinking at that m-moment," she started tentatively, "but I have every c-confidence that she will a-apologise for her behavior, and you t-two should work it out and then f-forget it."

Shikamaru was still looking down at his hands, but Hinata could tell he was hesitant by his expression.

"I-Ino is just going through one of her ph-phases," she continued more boldly, "and y-you just happened to be caught up in it b-because you are c-close to her."

This time, Shikamaru nodded in understanding. The shy girl knew that Ino would be satisfied with that, but she wasn't. She needed to give him one more push…

"B-but I would a-advise you to look out-outside the box," she added meaningfully.

Shikamaru lifted his head in question, but Hinata's direct face told him he would figure it out in time.

"Hey! That's not fair! How come you gave Shikamaru advice and not us!" Naruto's loud voice penetrated. Sasuke hit him on the back of the head.

"Shut up dobe."

"Hey, teme! I'm asking an intelligent question of rights!"

"Do you even know what intelligent means?"

"Hell yeah! And don't change the subject! She gave him advice and skipped out—"

"U-umm, p-perhaps you n-need to listen to S-Sakura's advice. Even if y-you don't agree w-with it, you should t-trust her and try to ch-change what you are d-doing wrong," Hinata loudly interrupted, slightly red in the face as she had used one breath.

"But I don't know what I did wrong!" Naruto protested. Sasuke silently agreed along side him.

"Maybe th-that's what y-you're doing wr-wrong. Maybe S-Sakura wants y-you to start to r-realise that a lot of th-things you do are wrong, b-but you d-don't notice it." Her quiet voice was all that filled in a silent void as they all listened closely.

"Ah. I see. What if I can't?"

"Th-then, u-ummm," she thought hard about it, "Then y-you should do the o-other things that Sakura com-complained about." It wasn't the best answer, but it would last.

"Ah. So all I have to do is to find the girl that Sakura mentioned!"

Hinata blushed a bright beet red. She squirmed uncomfortably; what would Naruto say if he found out she was the girl? Oh well. What's done is done.

"Um, y-yeah, sure, and a-also try t-to listen to S-Sakura as well. Okay?"

"Sure thing!" Naruto answered happily.

"And S-Sasuke," Hinata paused for a moment, "It w-would also be good i-if once in a wh-while you praised y-your team mates for th-their good work. R-respect also b-builds a team, and y-you would be able to w-work better if there w-were less f-fights."

There was a tense silence as Sasuke evaluated over her words. She fidgeted nervously; she had never been confident with speaking to the intimidating Uchiha.

"Hn."

The held tension relaxed as Sasuke spoke his one word agreement. Behind the door, Sakura breathed a victorious smile, silently giving Hinata lots of credit.

"So, just one left, eh?" Shikamaru said, turning attention immediately to Neji.

Neji shied away from the prying eyes. Somehow, they looked so innocently malicious…

"Hmmm, Hinata, I know you and Tenten are especially close, but I trust you will keep this to yourself?" he asked.

Hinata nodded convincingly. "O-of course." He had emphasized it twice, so it must be really confidential. She felt the slightest bit guilty that she was sort of betraying her cousin… but it was for the sake of her friends, so that was okay.

"Tenten… had been acting very strange from a week ago. And yesterday, she was really… violent." He said slowly.

Behind the door, Tenten scoffed a laugh. She could remember clearly his face when her kunais went straight through his shirt. Score!

"I just want to know what's bothering her, and fix it—if I can."

Hinata nodded seriously… then looked down at her phone. Tenten would probably be too busy laughing or controlling her anger management to text her. What should she do?

"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," Hinata politely excused herself, abandoning the four boys on the couch.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Hinata slumped onto the frame, breathing methodically. The girls fanned her, trying to smother their giggles.

"Are you alright, Hinata?" whispered Tenten. She nodded weakly.

"You did a great job," Sakura praised.

"That's right," Ino continued, "after Neji, you can kick them out and we can discuss! I can't wait!" She clapped her hands in excitement.

"Yes," Hinata answered, her face unusually somber, "Neji is a little difficult."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, "all you have to do is tell him to find out what he did wrong, and apologise!"

"No," Tenten sighed, "It's really not that easy. Hinata needs to make it clear that I'm angry purely on what Neji did."

"Doesn't he…" Sakura whispered.

"No, he doesn't know he did it," Hinata answered.

Tenten agreed. "Neji has been my partner for long enough to know that nothing he does can upset me for long, but also that I would always tell him if I was angry or sad. I guess he doesn't realise that I'm capable of being angry at him."

A sad mood settled over them. Hinata placed her hand on the doorknob, knowing that she would need her words to be direct and clear.

With smiles of strength from her friends, she entered once again into the boys' domain.

"Hina-chan! You're back!" Naruto yelled.

"U-umm, y-yes, I'm back," she said strangely, wondering what had gotten into him, "let's finish this quickly."

She turned to her cousin and made straight eye contact. "Neji, h-have you e-ever experienced Tenten b-being a-angry at you? Because I suspect th-that she is angry at y-you now."

"What did I do?" Neji asked, "Tenten never has a problem of the way I act."

"P-perhaps because sh-she has been h-holding it in. P-please, i-if you want t-to solve this pr-problem, you must think a-about your actions and h-her personality and how y-you made her a-act that way." She bravely said, "It's the only w-way she will b-be satisfied w-with you're a-apology."

Neji could not comprehend what had just come out of his cousin's mouth. Tenten being angry at him? Impossible!

"I m-must ask y-you to leave now, p-please," Hinata declared, standing up, "I n-need to h-help Hanabi pr-prepare."

The boys all snapped out of their thought bubbles and hurried to their feet.

"Thank you."

"Thank you for your help, Hinata."

"Hn."

"Hina-chan! I'm sorry we bothered you! But now I know that Sakura-chan wants me to find this girl, and I promise I will find her, even if it takes my whole life! And I'll also take notice of what she says, and-" he lowered his voice down to a whisper, "-you might have even got some sense into teme, neh? See you Hinata!"

He left with a huge grin on his face, a petrified Hinata standing behind him.

As soon as the wooden door bang shut, the girls rushed out from the bathroom, and all gathered themselves onto the bed.

"Oh my gosh, we need like, another get-together to discuss all this!" Ino squealed.

"Hell yeah! Did you hear how Naruto spoke to Hinata with such love in his voice?" Sakura dreamily joked.

"Oh yes," Tenten mischievously said, "and how he would hunt that special girl until he found her, even if he took—Hinata!"

The blue-haired girl had fainted atop the silken sheets.

"Poor girl," Tenten remarked, "she must have been under so much pressure she couldn't handle it all at the end."

They all remembered her demand for them to leave. Very un-Hinata like.

"Or perhaps she just fainted at your mention at Naruto… " Sakura suggested.

"What! No way, you started it!"

The three girls spun round the room, chasing each other until they were breathless.

*

Down on the front path, Neji turned from where he was farewelling his friends to Hinata's window, swearing he saw something like Tenten's trademark buns pass by, but shook his head as he dismissed the thought.

Tenten couldn't possibly be there, right?

* * *

A Special Case: Well, that's it. Konohamaru is so cuuuuute!! And please tell me if there are any major mistakes in this, because I think I did something wrong and I can't remember, WAA! And also remember to REVIEW!! YEAH? YAY!


	10. Chapter 10

A Special Case: Personally, I just don't like this chapter. Nothing really happens, so next few chapters are going to be action! action! action! Hopefully. Anyway, ENJOY!**

* * *

Life as it is**

**Summary for last ch.**

"Oh yes," Tenten mischievously said, "and how he would hunt that special girl until he found her, even if he took—Hinata!"

The blue-haired girl had fainted atop the silken sheets.

"Poor girl," Tenten remarked, "she must have been under so much pressure she couldn't handle it all at the end."

They all remembered her demand for them to leave. Very un-Hinata like.

"Or perhaps she just fainted at your mention at Naruto… " Sakura suggested.

"What! No way, you started it!"

The three girls spun round the room, chasing each other until they were breathless.

*

Down on the front path, Neji turned from where he was farewelling his friends to Hinata's window, swearing he saw something like Tenten's trademark buns pass by, but shook his head as he dismissed the thought.

Tenten couldn't possibly be there, right?

**Chapter 10**

Shikamaru stared at the shougi board.  
Asuma stared at Shikamaru.  
Kurenai was staring at both of them.

"Hey, Shikamaru, it's not that hard, do you really need the last seven minutes to think of one move?" His sensei complained, cigarette muffling his words.

A further one minute passed, Kurenai fidgeting with her cup of tea.

Suddenly, Shikamaru dropped his head into his hands. "I can't do iiiit," he groaned, falling onto his back.

In shock, the cigarette hit the ground. Asuma stared wildly at the board, then to Shikamaru, then to the board again. He reached across to his pupil, feeling his forehead and examining his body. "Shikamaru, you aren't sick, are you? You should have told me if you were sick. Go home and have some sleep!" Asuma scolded the tired ninja.

"Noooo," came another groan, "It's about Ino."

Asuma rocked back on his heels, letting out a relieved sigh. Kurenai, too, let go of the breath she'd been holding; imagine, Shikamaru being defeated by Asuma in shougi…the thought made her feel faint. "Ah, girl troubles," the jounin said, picking up his bent cigarette, "you got me a little worried there."

"And girl troubles isn't worrying?" Shikamaru asked, lifting an eyelid.

Asuma looked up into the air, eyebrows fused together. "Now you mention it, there was something strange about the sentence…"

"It's Ino! I'm having girl troubles with Ino!" Shikamaru forced the words out his mouth, reassuring himself that his sensei would not laugh at such a serious matter.

"Sh-Shikamaru? Girl troubles… Ino-buahahahahahhahaha!" Asuma broke off in laughter, and even Kurenai let out a giggle from behind her cup. That sentence _did_ sound strange coming from his mouth.

Shikamaru shook his head in annoyance. He originally wanted to clear his head of this, but it came up while playing shougi, and the issue was… addictive.

"Stop laughing, it's embarrassing!" He grumbled.

"Okay, okay, sorry," Asuma replied, tears still present in the corner of his eyes, "So, wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know," Shikamaru shrugged, "I've repeated it so many times that it gets more confusing every time. But in short, we had an…I guess you could call a misunderstanding."

"Aaaah," Asuma nodded wisely, "a misunderstanding."

"So?" asked Shikamaru, "do you have any advice?"

"Absolutely!" Asuma leaned close, beckoning his student. "The secret… is to beg for her forgiveness, whatever it takes!"

"Eh? Whatever it takes?" Shikamaru whispered.

"Of course," Asuma leaned back, winking sneakily at Kurenai, "It's a sure-win strategy. You'd still have to do it, even if it embarrasses you!"

Shikamaru took in a deep breath, weighing up the options. His manly pride-vs.-Ino. Both were pretty important…

"You can always give her something, as a gift," Kurenai offered.

Shikamaru shook his head dejectedly, "it's not that kind of argument. It's just that it was all normal and then… I don't know what I did!"

"Hmmm," Asuma tilted his head thoughtfully, "In that case, pretend it never happened."

Shikamaru stared shocked at his teacher. "Sensei! You know how Ino goes when she tries to ignore something!"

They both made an uncomfortable face at the memory of Ino trying to forget that she walked into Shikamaru changing. They cringed. She had nearly killed them and herself with her attempt to be normal.

"Kurenai," Asuma asked, "you're a female, any ideas?"

"Well," she started, "I don't really know Ino that well, but…" Both males looked up hopefully, "…I think that you should casually say sorry for the other day and then leave it. I'm sure that Ino would be embarrassed about it and I wouldn't be surprised if she apologised first." She stopped there.

Asuma opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off as Kurenai started to speak again. "Actually, I think whatever weird thing happened yesterday was just a one-off. Ino would probably be relieved if you left it, as Asuma said."

Asuma opened his mouth again, but Kurenai intervened…again. "Yes, I think all you have to do is to go to the flower shop today, casually walk in and start a conversation with Ino. Maybe ask her to go take a walk with you or something. Or you can always buy flowers…" she trailed off, looking as if she enjoyed the situation greatly.

Asuma didn't bother to say anything. He and Shikamaru were amazed at her analysis that whittled the solution down to time and place. The scary powers of women.

"Well…?" she inquired, smiling knowingly.

"Huh, oh yeah! Yeah, that's a good idea. Right, Shikamaru?"

"Wha-oh, right. Yeah, that's a good-good idea. I'll-yeah, I'll do that. In fact, I'll do it now."

"That's my boy-What? Hey! We haven't finished the game!"

Too late. All that was left was a disappearing cloud of dust. Asuma looked sadly down at the game board. Poor boy. Girl troubles were bad enough, but Ino was literally double trouble.

He raised his eyebrows as Kurenai settled into Shikamaru's abandoned seat.

"Let's play."

With her beautiful, innocent face, he couldn't say no. That was until she had him in checkmate in under two minutes. He shuddered at her gentle smile. The scary power of women.

*

Shikamaru took a step round the corner, froze, then turned round and hid behind the brick wall. 'What if Kurenai was wrong? What if he addressed the matter and she became nervous again? She'd probably destroy the whole flower shop with her clumsiness.

He leant there against the wall, closing his eyes to sort out the mental turmoil. He didn't think he had ever felt this nervous before. Jeez! What was wrong with him! It was just Ino. Just his friendship on the line. Just a bipolar girl with unexpected reactions.

He sighed, turned the corner and walked into the shop.

Ino just finished retying her apron when she sensed him come in. On reflex, her legs gave way as she scurried under the counter. Her breathing became stretched, and then stopped completely as she heard him call out her name.

"Ino! I know you're here! Hello?"

Behind the counter, Ino consoled herself with deep breaths. 'I had asked Hinata to tell him. I had wanted this. I had needed this. Why am I using past tense!?'

Shikamaru could hear scuffling on the other side of the counter. He looked over to see a blonde head nodding profusely.

'I am a strong girl. I can handle one conversation. Okay!' She pasted on a cheery smile and bolted straight up . However, her head connected with something, hard. Ino heard a pained cry and let out a scream herself when she saw Shikamaru clutching his nose while a steady stream of blood dripped down to the tiles.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my- Shika! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Ino screamed.

He made some grunting noises in reply, waving his hand as if to say, 'No, this is perfectly fine. It's just a possible broken nose that you just caused.'

Immediately, her motherly instincts took over as she ushered him up the stairs to her home.

He stood awkwardly with his head held up, making muffled noises at her countless questions. The edges of the ceiling started to slip out of focus, as all he could think of was the image of Ino's head rushing up to meet his face.

He felt a familiar tickle in his nose. No! He couldn't sneeze now, not in the middle of her living room! He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the sneeze. With a burst of air up the windpipe, his ears blocked up, and all he could see was black.

Ino expertly slid the bowl of cold water onto the coffee table and threw against the falling body as she saw Shikamaru fall.

"Jeez, Shika, you need a twenty-four hour watch just to keep you unhurt," she muttered as she dragged him over to the couch, one hand around his waist and one keeping the tissues on his nose.

The next five minutes included her swopping the tissues and squeezing water on his face in an attempt to wake him up. When seven minutes passed, she panicked a little. Wasn't fainting normally about two minutes? Why was he still unconscious?

She leant her head close to his heart. _Ba-dump, ba-dump_. A heart beat. Thank god. She dropped her head on his chest in relief, before jerking back embarrassedly.

With a guilty swallow, Ino surveyed her patient's sleeping face. "He's so peaceful," she whispered.

A quick look at the clock told her that no one would be coming up for an hour.

"An hour," she said to him, "what are we going to do with you, sleepy head?" flicking him softly on his cheek.

His nose had stopped bleeding, and Ino let down her guard, going back to her cheerful self.

"You know, you really freaked me out there," she said while cleaning up, "lucky I'm very skillful, huh? Seriously, what would you do without me?" She gave him a fond look before plunking down on the carpet beside him.

"And you know about the other day, its okay. I don't think that we need to talk about it. Take it as…something that just happened. But I think I should probably apologise to you first. After all, you were the one who had to experience my strangeness, right?" She turned to his unchanged face with a baby doll smile.

"Such a waste of words, Ino," she said to herself, "but then again, this is practice for when he's actually conscious. Better take advantage of the situation." She blushed when she realised that the last sentence was a little wrong.

She tilted her head slightly as she looked at his face. She was close enough to see each eyelash, each tiny freckle on his nose, to see his lips were slightly open.

_Ba-dump, ba-dump_. She could hear her heart clearly as an uncontrollable impulse forced her closer to was nothing in her head. Just the irregular _ba-dump, ba-dump_ as she got closer, and closer. Her own mouth opened the slightest and her eyes half closed as she got closer and closer.  
Close enough that if she breathed out, their lips would be touching.

Shikamaru suddenly shifted in his sleep, closing the tiny gap between them. Ino gasped and scuttled back from the couch. She stared at him, aghast, with her right hand pressed tightly against her mouth.

'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.' She felt like laughing and crying at the same time. She was stunned, but underneath the shock, she could feel a warm happiness swell up.

Shikamaru lifted a hand to his forehead and let out a groan, his eyes still closed. Ino immediately composed herself, forcing an innocent grin onto her face.

"Hello, how are you feeling?"

"Umm, a little dizzy."

"Well, you have been unconscious for ten minutes. I think it was the loss of blood."

The next few minutes included many suspicious looks from Shikamaru and a hyperventilating Ino trying to keep normal. And her trying to shove him out.

In the end, Shikamaru didn't get to bring the topic up, and Ino was left a mess on the floor, crying and laughing.

*

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Sakura yelled, as she threw off her mittens and ran down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of the phone.

"Who is it?" Sakura asked just to hear high pitched voice crying and laughing on the other end.

"Ino...?"

"Are you okay?"

" Uh-huh. What did he say?"

"Oh! What! Ow…"

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah, I'm listening."

"Ya-WHAT! WOW WOW WOW WOW!"

"Yep, yep, yep."

"Did he notice?"

"Oh my gosh, how romantic…"

"Okay, okay, sorry, not romantic- hey, wait, I have someone at the door."

"Coming!" She yelled, opening the door with a flourish. Sasuke was leaning comfortably against her front porch, his onyx eyes staring at her flushed face.

Her initial reflex was to slam the door in his face. Which she did. After a few seconds of staring at the peeling paint on her door, she opened it up again. The dark-haired boy was still there, looking back at her with bored eyes.

"Umm, what's up?" she started, her eyes unnaturally large and her smile unnaturally big.

"You're smoking."

"What!?" Did. He. Just. Say. She. Was. Smoking. ?. As in smoking...hot?

"You're kitchen is filling up with smoke." Okay, maybe not.

Sakura turned towards her kitchen, and sure enough, a distinctive mist was floating out. She let out a scream and rushed to the oven to find the cake fully charred and burnt. The anguish on her face as she dumped it into the bin turned into anger as she saw Sasuke casually wonder into her house.

"What are you doing in my house!?"

"This is all I get for telling you your kitchen was on fire?"

"Yes! What else do you expect?"

On the other line, Ino was listening to every word with concentration, thoroughly intrigued by this discussion.

"Don't I get the right for some hospitality... and one question?" he prompted with an eyebrow, "after all, your house could be on fire right now and you'd be oblivious to it."

Sakura shot an annoyed glance at him. "Why are you so pushy today?"

He only shrugged and dropped into a seat at her kitchen table.

"Fine," she said with pursed lips, "one question."

He stared at her amusedly, hands on hips and an adamant stare. "Why are you baking a cake?"

She looked at him like he was stupid. "Why wouldn't I? Baking a cake is a normal thing for me to do!"

"No it isn't. You never bake."

"How do you know that!"

"Because you're uncoordinated in everything apart from fighting and medical procedures. Which includes household activities."

Sakura pouted.

"Which means there must be a good reason why you're baking today."

Sakura twitched uncomfortably. He had hit it. She slumped into the chair next to him and buried her head in her arms.

"My mmph comiph offeph toniphe mmmm thmmpppphhhh.."

"Excuse me? I couldn't hear that." He couldn't help letting out a smirk when he saw her face colour.

"My mother is coming over tonight because it's her birthday!" She retorted, then reburied her head.

"Oh, so?"

"So? So? So? What do you mean so? This is a disaster! I've always gotten Ino to cook for me when my mom comes home on her birthday because it's tradition! Tradition!" Sakura got up and paced around in her living room, "But Ino is… she just can't cook right now! And my mum is going to come home in an hour and I have to bake a cake! And if I don't, my mum's gonna find out that I've been lying for the past six years!" With a dramatic sigh, she sank to the floor, and started to repeatedly hit her head.

"So you're going to continue to lie to her?"

"Sasuke, I don't think you get it. My mom… she opposes so much to me being a kunoichi that she gets - she gets really happy when she sees me doing something like baking a cake." Sakura started crying in frustration, and wiped her eyes with her hand.

"My mom, I hardly see her happy. It just makes me feel less guilty for picking this – this path compared to _housework_," she said the last word with distaste.

There was silence as Sakura entertained scenarios of her breaking her hand or something and Sasuke watched her scheming form.

"I can bake it for you."

Her head shot up in shock. Her eyes bulged. Sasuke was going to bake a cake!?

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Sasuke, this is a really serious situation!"

"I'm am serious."

The laughter froze on the pink-haired girl's face. "You can't be… you're joking, right?" she whispered.

"Are you going to take it or not?"

Sakura turned to look at Sasuke fully. He was staring somewhere to her left, lips slightly pursed, cheeks an adorable pink.

"_Absolutely_!"

On the other line, Ino's jaw fell open.

* * *

A Special Case:Hahahahaha, Sasuke can cook! Or can he...

A Random Stranger:You don't know, do you?

A Special Case: Shuddup. Ever heard of winging it?

A Random Stranger:Suuuure.


	11. Chapter 11

A Special Case: Hmmm, I don't know if I should like it or not. Maybe I'll like it. This is obviously not the end of the chapter, but it was too long, so I really couldn't be bothered. eNj0Y!  
**

* * *

Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

"I can bake it for you."

Her head shot up in shock. Her eyes bulged. Sasuke was going to bake a cake!?

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Sasuke, this is a really serious situation!"

"I'm am serious."

The laughter froze on the pink-haired girl's face. "You can't be… you're joking, right?" she whispered.

"Are you going to take it or not?"

Sakura turned to look at Sasuke fully. He was staring somewhere to her left, lips slightly pursed, cheeks an adorable pink.

"_Absolutely_!"

On the other line, Ino's jaw fell open.

**Chapter 11**

Konohamaru was currently hiding behind a shrub, accompanied by a giggling Hanabi. The leaves were sticking to his shirt and poking his neck, and as he reached round to scratch his back, Hanabi exclaimed, "Look, they're coming out!"

Sure enough, some Hyuugas had exited the gloomy manor, squinting their eyes at the clear blue skies. Hanabi shook Konohamaru to get his attention. The poor boy had been dragged here by her, though he wasn't complaining.

"Okay, you know the plan?" She whispered dramatically, furrowing her eyebrows to achieve the serious spy look.

"Sure thing," was the reply, and no sooner than that, the two ninjas had separated in different directions.

Just a few meters away from them, Neji easily saw everything. Raising his eyebrows, he decided not to report them; he would let them have their fun for one day.

He stretched his arms behind him and contemplated where he would go for the rest of the day. He could train, but the lengthened meeting had tired him out. He shot a glance over to his cousin who was standing quietly in the shade. It had been awkward between them after their 'talk', but he felt much closer to her than before.

He was just about to walk over there and ask her nonchalantly about the whereabouts of Tenten when goggles peeked into view. Neji watched as Hanabi's subordinate, as he called him, said something to Hinata and she followed him out of the compound and disappeared down the road.

Okay. So his source of information was gone. He decided to take a walk round Konoha, and see if he could catch Tenten wherever she was. He hadn't taken a step onto the cobble road when the master turned up, smiling happily at him.

"Hello, Hanabi," he greeted warily.

"Hello, Cousin Neji!" she shouted back at him, "Isn't it such a wonderful day today? Don't you think you should take the opportunity to relax?"

He eyed her suspiciously. "What are you implying?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking, no-one will be in the hot springs today, because it's so hot. And you look like you need to loosen up. Right?"

"You want me to go to the hot springs…because?"

"Well…umm…" her face scrunched up and snapped, "it's for your own good!"

"Hanabi…"

"Yes?"

"You are very suspicious."

"And you are very curious. So bye!" And with that, she zoomed off, skipping happily away.

Neji raised his eyebrows. She was right. She had piqued his curiosity and he didn't suspect that she was mean enough to land a trap. In fact, the hot springs sounded pretty appealing right now, and probably was empty on a day like today.

With a smile, he dismissed the thought of a potential trap and decided he would go after lunch.

*

Tenten sank into the hot, velvety waters, resting her back on a warm rock.

"This is bliss," she whispered, kicking her legs underwater.

She had persuaded the old couple who ran the hot springs to open up the whole thing to her, so the barrier that separated the male and female side was gone. Now she was free to swim round the whole thing, and it wasn't like anyone would come, right?

Smiling, she patted her full stomach and laughed out loud, feeling particularly vivacious when the sliding door connecting the change rooms and the pool opened.

Her blood froze. She thought everyone were at the pools! What if it was a guy! She stuck herself onto the rock so that the person wouldn't see her, and slowly slid down until the tip of her nose was touching the water.

"Hello?"

Tenten frowned. She knew that voice…

"Guess there really isn't anyone here. Hanabi was right."

Her eyes shot open as she clamped both hands around her mouth. CRAP! It was Neji. It was Neji. Neji, Neji, NejiNejiNeji!! CrapCrapCrap!!

Her arms automatically covered her chest, and she could clearly feel the pump of her heart. She wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it from the other side.

Gathering all her courage, she peeked over the other side of the rock, saw a flash of skin, and immediately whipped her head round. What was he doing here! It was a hot day! He should be swimming like everyone else, cooling off after his Hyuuga mee- of course… Hanabi.

She remembered conversing with his cousin, telling her this morning that nobody would think of going into the hot springs in such weather. She felt like smashing her head against the rock. That girl!

Anyhow, she needed to get out. NOW. Should she make it known to him? Or, just sneak out? No, that would never work; Neji would catch her in a second.

So she did the only thing she could do. She waited. And waited. And waited.

'When is he going to get out! He's been in here for an hour! That's not good for your skin!' She fanned her cheek, trying to cool it down.

"I can't believe it was so hot, then dropped, like five degrees!"

"Yeah, I know!"

Tenten froze again. Male voices. And not ones she could recognize. The sliding door opened, and she heard four pairs of feet step in. They hesitated for a moment, probably looking at the vastness of the hot spring for the first time.

"Hey man." A gruff voice said, probably greeting Neji. Tenten imagined her team mate nodding back.

"Wow, so this is what its like. No-one else here?" Another voice.

"No, just me," Neji replied.

"Great. Well, see ya." Another nod, probably.

Tenten's blood ran cold when she heard the slap of their feet get louder. Of course they were going over to this side, they thought it was empty!

She swore ten times in her brain. Never before had she wished so much she could turn invisible. And if those guys were perverts…

An avalanche of water invaded her vision as four huge splashes sounded right in front of her. She sighed. There was really no helping it.

She waited until they surfaced, laughing and flinging their hair about like lunatics, to catch the attention of one of them.

He stopped, his smile turned to an 'O'. Tenten put her finger up to her lips and gave the best glare she could manage. No such luck.

All four turned could see her clearly, backed against the rock. They shot a glance at Neji, and slowly advanced onto her. All were about eighteen, and obviously thought she was much older than thirteen.

"Now," one of them whispered, his mouth next to her ear, "what would a good girl be doing in the hot springs, by herself, with no security?"

"Maybe she's asking for it," another sniggered.

Tenten made a disgusted face. They were really off putting. She really didn't want to battle them; if she knocked them out, they would drown. If she didn't knock them out, they would yell. And if they touched her, she would scream. Very loud.

She reached behind her. Shit. No weapons pouch. How could she forget?

In the corner of her eye, she saw the first boy try to get closer, sliding a hand up her back. Quick as a flash, she elbowed him in the face, and then wrapped her hand around his mouth to prevent him from making any noise.

She shoved her knee into his lower back, keeping his body as far away as she could.

The other guys apparently didn't get the message.

*

"KYAAAAAAAA!"

A girlish scream woke Neji up from his reverie, and the first thing he noticed was the guys who had come in a while ago were gathered around a rock and getting knocked back. It was like someone was on the other side, hitting them pretty hard.

He remembered the scream. There was a girl here? Nevertheless, the guys were harassing her, and even though he was currently…not dressed to fight, he obviously couldn't walk away.

With surprising efficiency, he cut through the water and wasted no time in literally picking the guys up and dumping them out of the pool. He could see a shivering figure out of the corner of his eye, and made her out to be the victim.

"Don't be surprised if the Hokage pays you a visit," Neji lectured calmly, appearing a whole lot more sensible and older than he actually was. "Now get out." he watched with a hard face as the flailing youths picked themselves up and climbed over each other to get out.

He turned to the girl. "Sorry, I'll make sure that won't- Hey, wait! Are you okay?"

He could only see the back of the girl; she was currently trying to swim as fast as she could to the other side, but stopped as he called her. There was something about her hair that was familiar, though…

"Tenten?"

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, then opened them again. She relaxed her muscles, sank down into the water, and turned to face her bewildered team mate.

"Hehehe, hi, Neji?"

As soon as she turned around, her face turned an embarrassing red and she shielded her eyes from a half naked Neji. This wasn't exactly the first time she had seen him like this, but he had no clothes on and it was affecting her mind, just a little bit.

Neji was in shock. Tenten was here. She was behind the rock. He hadn't heard her come in. He connected the dots.

"Tenten."

"Yes," she whispered, lowering her hand just enough to see that Neji had not moved and was staring at her.

Silence followed. Neji swallowed and then cleared his throat audibly.

"Umm, Neji?"

"Yes."

"Do you mind, if you could just…sort of…umm, not stand up?"

Neji looked surprised then realised that his top half was completely bare. He shrank into the water as she asked, and the both of them awkwardly faced each other.

"Umm, thank you…for saving me. I didn't have my weapons pouch and I really didn't want to…fight-"

"-are you hurt?"

"Huh?" Tenten looked up, surprised at his concern.

"I said, are-"

"-I heard what you said!" They were both silent. Tenten wished she could fast forward time. This was so uncomfortable.

"And I'm…perfectly fine. I'm an accomplished kunoichi and can take care of myself!"

"Really."

"Really!" She exclaimed, taking little steps backwards towards the ledge, as he advanced forward "They really couldn't do anything to me, I'm a very accomplished ninja, remember?"

"Yes. I know," he answered amusedly, "but why are you scared of me?"

"What? Scared of you? No! That's absurd, Neji. You're my team mate, how can I be scared of- Okay! Please stop walking towards me!" Tenten brought her arms up in a cross in front of her face. Suddenly, she felt arms push her back against the wall, then release.

Hesitantly, her arms came down. To her right, Neji leant against the edge, looking over at the rock she'd been hiding behind.

"Did they hurt you?"

Tenten stared at him. What was with the serious concern!

"Umm, they didn't do anything bad."

Silence followed.

Tenten sat up. She suddenly remembered that she wouldn't have an answer if Neji asked her why she didn't answer when he came in. And why she'd been hiding from him!

"Well, Neji…I think I'll be going now, 'kay?" She made to get out of the water, but hesitated when she saw that Neji was still staring ahead. Who knows what he could see from there?

"Did they touch you?"

Gah! Why was he asking such awkward questions! She really didn't know what to say.

"Well-maybe we should continue this conversation later. You know, when we have…clothes on?"

"Tenten. Just answer the question."

She winced. Okay. So maybe she should just give an evasive answer. That's still answering, right?

"They might have a-accidentally brushed past me. Nothing over PG stuff!" She felt like smacking herself at the last sentence: 'What. The. Heck. Was. That. PG stuff? Neji won't even get it! Wait, that's good. This damn heat is affecting my brain!'

"Neji, umm…"

He tilted his head to her, and for a moment, she was speechless. His face was so pure and gentle; it forced her lips to curl up in a momentary daze.

"Yes?"

"Thanks for caring about me." As soon as the sentence was out of her mouth, she blushed a bright red, although hard to see through the steam. How did she get from hating him to thanking him?

"That's okay."

It was said with a light voice, and for once, Tenten knew that it was completely genuine. They lapsed into silence again. Only this time, they were completely comfortable with each other.

After about five minutes, Tenten started feeling dizzy. She wasn't sure that she was still in the water, because she couldn't feel it. Her head dropped and she yanked it up again. She turned to Neji, a blur of black and white. She suddenly had a vision loss as haze covered her eyes.

"Nejiiiiiiiii…"

"Yes, Tenten?"

"Why can your skin stay white even when you've been in here for about two hours?"

"It's only been an hour and a half."

"Oh. Riiiiiight."

"Tenten, are you okay? You look a bit feverish-oh!" Neji jumped as Tenten's head came crashing down on his shoulder.

"Tenten! Tenten, wake up!" He felt her forehead. It was an unusually high temperature, probably because of the hot springs. Neji sighed, cursing his luck. From the way things looked, the unconscious girl wasn't going to be awake anytime soon.

His face turned red when her body started rotating towards him, and frantically pushed her shoulders back to where they were. Why did he take Hanabi's advice? He and Tenten were already on cracking ice, and now they would _never_ get over this.

He gritted his teeth…Hanabi was dead meat.

* * *

A Special Case: There it is! And now I have to decide how he's gonna get her outta there without any clothes on... And also, I've typed up the first chapter of a KankuroxTenten fic, only I have, like, no title for it. Any suggestions will be completely welcome!


	12. Chapter 12

A Special Case: okay, here is chapter 12! please please review! review review review! ^^  
**

* * *

Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

"Tenten, are you okay? You look a bit feverish-oh!" Neji jumped as Tenten's head came crashing down on his shoulder.

"Tenten! Tenten, wake up!" He felt her forehead. It was an unusually high temperature, probably because of the hot springs. Neji sighed, cursing his luck. From the way things looked, the unconscious girl wasn't going to be awake anytime soon.

His face turned red when her body started rotating towards him, and frantically pushed her shoulders back to where they were. Why did he take Hanabi's advice? He and Tenten were already on cracking ice, and now they would _never_ get over this.

He gritted his teeth…Hanabi was dead meat.

**Chapter 12**

Neji grunted as he hauled Tenten out of the water, eyes shut tight. One arm was supporting her back, tensed straight so he did not 'accidentally' touch anything. The other was under her knees, keeping her body as far away from his as possible.

He cursed as he stubbed his toe on something. With further investigation, he found that it was the sliding door to the change rooms; which one, he did not know.

As he ventured forward, he hit his knee on one of the seats that he knew were situated in the middle. With care, he placed the girl on the bench, turned to the opposite direction and opened his eyes to search for a towel.

As he grabbed the fluffy material, he noticed that he had walked into the boys' room. Keeping his eyes well away from his passed out teammate, he found his clothes and dressed quickly.

Neji paused for a moment, unsure of what to do with Tenten. It seemed odd to just leave her by herself, but did he really have another option?

He threw the towel in her relative direction, then quickly slid out of the room, calling a quick, "I'll be back!" to the unconscious girl.

He breathed heavily in and out as he leaned on the door frame. Damn, how did he land in these situations? Placing a closed sign on the door, he desperately ran off to find the first female he knew.

"Hinata, Hinata, Hinata! HINATA!"

The said girl squeaked as her name was screamed by a panting, dripping wet, red-faced boy. She blinked twice with her large eyes. Then blinked twice again. Was that…Neji?

"Hurry…and come…Tenten…fainted in…in the springs…" He forced out, panting with each breath, his legs not yet used to the feeling of walking after a relaxing bath.

"Eh? Tenten? In the hot springs? How did you find her then?" A vision of bright yellow hair invaded Hinata's sight, and her heart skipped a beat. Naruto!

"Lets not…not go there," Neji answered, holding up his hand, "let's just go and get her dressed before some guy walks in there."

"But why would a guy walk-Hey! Why is she naked! Hey!" Too late; Neji had disappeared down the track, waving frantically back at them.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, always willing to go on an interesting adventure. "Let's go, Hina-chan!" And with that, he grasped the red-faced girl's hand and tore after her cousin.

*

Naruto pursed his lips at the silence. He and Neji were on the two sides of the door to the boys' room, put on 'guard duty.'

He felt exactly like waiting for the results of someone in critical condition. Only that this time, the medical center was in the hot springs.

Both males pushed off the wall as the sound of footsteps reached their ears.

The sliding door opened, and Hinata stepped out, followed by an incredibly embarrassed Tenten, determined to save her pride by walking straight and true.

"Hey Tenten! You alright? Finally out?" Naruto asked brightly, trying hard to make light of the thick atmosphere.

She laughed shrilly, replying with a nonchalant expression. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just the heat."

She had failed to make eye contact with Neji and he knew that the first step needed to be his.

Hinata, being the perceptive girl she was, sensed that Neji and Tenten had some explaining to do. With a timid tug, she took Naruto's sleeve shyly.

"N-Naruto-kun, I th-think th-that we should g-go b-back to ummm… Ichiraku's! Let's g-go to I-Ichiraku's now, come o-on!"

Tenten smiled at her best friend's attempt to leave them alone, dragging a confused Naruto outside, to no doubt run as far away as possible…in case things didn't go well.

With a resigned roll of the eyes, she turned to face him.

As always, his lean, muscular form made her breath catch, and wonder how she could ever hate this wondrous god.

"Tenten."

He started walking. Towards her.

She pasted a fake smile on her face and thought that sometimes her team mate invaded her privacy way too much. He stopped an inch from her chest. With a shocked look, she watched as he placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, and then did the impossible.

The great, fantastic, genius, know-it-all, great-body-owning, self-centered, god-of-the-world Neji Hyuuga, apologised.

"I'm sorry."

Tenten took a long time to digest it. Was it a trick? Sarcastic? Mocking? Nup, it was sincere, and it was one the rare moments he was sensitive to his team mates.

She looked at him warily, frowning as she reached to where her weapons pouch would be, but his lean fingers wrapped around her wrist. He was a little colder than she was, like a beautiful marble creature.

"I'm not an imposter, Tenten," he said in his deep voice, "I really am sorry for scaring you in their, and um, violatingyourprivacy."

She whispered back to him, "Then why are you standing so close to me?"

Neji looked down to where his left hand lay, reluctant to move it from her smooth skin. It was as if she would break if he made one wrong move, like she was a fragile flower, so beautiful at every moment.

Tenten's eyes widened as he moved closer, muttering something about flowers. She did not dare to push back.

"I'm sorry too," she offered with a kind smile, "sorry for being so angry at you before." He chuckled lightly, and she could feel his chest vibrate.

"And you know about the incident we just had?" she added, her voice climbing a few notes, we can just…you know, kinda forget it?"

"Sure." This time it was his gentle smile which took her breath away.

Tenten suddenly had a thought that the situation was exactly like the ones in the movie, where they were staring into each others eyes, so giddy with the moment that sense evaded them. She wanted to snort at her romantic side, yes, and at anytime the boy would just lean in and kiss her- HOLY CRAP HE WAS LEANING IN!!

The boy that she thought she had given up a long time ago was going to kiss her. And she was hell of a lot looking forward to it.

She stepped closer, and half closed her eyelids. She could feel his hands move up to her neck and tilt her head upwards. She could feel their heartbeats mould into one fast rhythm. She could feel him so close, _so_ close, and then hesitate for a heart beat.

And then he was gone.

*

Sakura watched with her eyes and mouth opened wide enough to fit a tennis ball in. Well, perhaps not that wide, but she was sure that she had not blinked for the last two minutes.

Sasuke was currently in her mother's kitchen, doing about fifty things at once. He had spent the last half an hour looking for the right ingredients and utensils, claiming her home had 'nothing.'

She fought back by saying that Ino always brought the stuff, even though both knew that it was a weak argument.

Her mother was due to come home in approximately three minutes and her team mate was still wearing the frilly pink apron, garnishing the cake, or whatever it was called.

Sakura wondered what it would be like if her mom came home to find him in her kitchen. 'Oh, hi mum! This is Sasuke and he just cooked your cake. By the way, I've been lying to you for the last five years.' She rolled her eyes at her lame attempt and contently observed Sasuke's ability to still look gorgeous while cooking.

With a flourish, he presented a beautiful chocolate mousse cake complete with imitation truffles, strawberries and chocolate shavings on cream.

"Oi. You're salivating on my cake."

With a start, Sakura jerked back from the masterpiece, not wanting to ruin it in anyway.

"Is it okay?" Sasuke asked a little uncertainly, not knowing about the standards of cooking from a girl's point of view.

"Is it okay? Is it okay?" Sakura squealed, jumping in excitement, "this is possibly the most attractive, good-looking, perfect cake I have ever seen!"

Sasuke smirked proudly. He wouldn't admit it, but he really did want to impress the pink-haired girl. That cake was his mother's favourite, and he grew up baking it for her every birthday.

"Oh crap!" Sakura shot straight up as she heard the click of keys. Perhaps she would need that speech after all.

She spun into panic mode, but had only gotten the kitchen cleaned up and the apron off Sasuke when she heard the words that made her blood run cold.

"Sakura. Who is this?"

*

Hinata gazed adoringly at Naruto slurping up his ramen. Even though he had already consumed five bowls at lunch, it wasn't stopping him from buying another two.

She smiled as she remembered the morning's happenings. She really needed to thank Konohamaru for everything he had done, although she suspected her sister was behind it all.

(Flashback)

She looked down surprised as Konohamaru sidled up to her and tugged on her sleeve.

"Oh, h-hello, K-Konohamaru. Wh-where is H-Hanabi?" She asked kindly, watching the young boy roll his eyes at the mention of his cohort.

"Nah, she's off somewhere, bullying someone else…" he trailed off, looking as if he shouldn't have said something. "Anyway, come with me, I have something really funny to show you."

Curious, Hinata obeyed and followed him towards a place she knew incredibly well, as she spent most of her lunch times spying on a certain someone.

"I-Ichiraku's?" She whispered to the younger boy as they hid behind a hedge facing the shop.

He made a shushing noise and pulled out a slingshot, grabbing a couple of stones from the ground. Hinata watched with shock, then turned her face to the victim, who was currently the only customer in the shop, and also their best.

Which just happened to be Naruto.

Hinata suddenly realised what Konohamaru was going to do. She turned back to him, frantically waving her hands but it was too late.

She followed the stone in slow motion, and with a horrified face, watched it bounce off a mass of blonde hair.

"Ouch! Owww, what the hell!?"

Konohamaru was rolling about on the falling, stuffing his fist in his mouth so not to give away their position. Hinata had to admit, the picture of the bewildered blonde _did_ seem a little funny.

"Hey! Who threw this!" Naruto yelled, coming out of Ichiraku's and waving the rock at passer-bys. "Who threw this! Come out right now, you idiot!"

Hinata turned back just in time to see Konohamaru release another one, this time directed to the forehead.

Naruto uttered a small "oof" before comically falling to the ground. Hinata gasped and immediately ran out to him, kneeling by his side.

"N-Naruto-kun, a-are y-you okay?" She asked, not daring to touch him in case he panicked and thought she was someone else.

He groaned in answer, his hand lifting up an inch and then dropping back to the ground. Konohamaru must have hit him hard.

Hinata wished there was something she could do. Temporarily forgetting about the little ninja behind the hedge, she coaxed the boy to sit up; his eyes were still forced shut at the pain.

She jerked back with a soft "oh!" as a bullet shaped stone shot past her face, narrowly missing her nose. Instead, it hit the concrete wall of Ichiraku's.

The rock immediately provoked a reaction from the blonde lying on the ground. He sprang up, and pushed a surprised Hinata behind him, his hand resting on her waist for a second.

"Hey, you coward! Don't you dare pick on Hinata! Come out and let me show you how the ninjas fight with people like you! Not coming out? Fine! Have it your way!" Naruto yelled to the surrounding area, then started to inspect behind each cart or seat, dragging Hinata along with him.

She resisted, not wanting Naruto to hurt the poor boy, but as she pulled him back and his hand settled comfortably in hers, she was struck for words.

"Hinata? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She snapped back to life and answered in a shaky voice; "U-um, I d-don't really think th-that you should p-punish them, a-after all, they m-must be v-very young and don't kn-know the best."

Naruto considered this possibility for a moment and was about to object when he saw her pleading face.

With a bright grin, he knew what his answer would be. "Hmmm, I guess I could let them off for a day." A smile lit up her face and he was pleased that he made her happy.

"So, Hina-chan, why don't you hang out with me for the rest of the day?" He asked happily.

Hinata's heart stopped suddenly. 'Is he asking me out on a date? Now? But…but I'm not ready! No, we are just friends! Just friends!'

Naruto saw her hesitation and suddenly became nervous. 'What if she took it the wrong way? I hope I didn't freak her out.'

"Umm, I mean, just as friends," he quickly added, "just…you know, hanging out as friends."

Hinata was immediately relieved, even though she could feel a small pit of sadness. "S-sure, I-I'd love that."

Naruto grinned cheerfully, looking forward to spending the day with the girl by his side.

*

There was silence in the kitchen.

Sakura shifted foot to foot, not daring to meet her mother's eye. Her mother was facing her, hands on her hips, handbag swinging off an arm. Sasuke was looking down respectably, silently smirking for some unknown reason.

"Well?" Her mother demanded, advancing on the girl.

"Umm," Sakura started, praying for an idea that would hopefully save her life, "he… is here because…" Her mother raised an eyebrow, egging her on.

"…because he, umm," Sakura stood straight as inspiration struck her, hoping that Sasuke would forgive her one day in the future, "because he's my boyfriend!"

*

Tenten's arms fell. Her eyelids dropped as a single tear slipped through.

Her throat closed up as sobs burst out, echoing in the cloakroom. She had no idea how long she had stood there, clutching air and wishing, wishing that he had not gone.

How could he do this to her! Was he playing with her! She sank into the corner, hugging her knees tightly to her chest.

She sat there for the rest of the day and through the night, her feelings exposed and vulnerable. She knew that people would come find her in the morning, but for now, she needed to console herself alone.

Alone in the corner, crying herself to sleep.

* * *

A Special Case:To clear somethings up, Sakura's mom comes home EARLY on her birthdays. They don't live separately.

I think that I wrote strangely? for this chapter, especially Neji and Tenten; it was a little odd. However, there were lots of things happening. Sasuke is now Sakura's boyfriend, to his dismay, Tenten is crying over Neji who is confused about his feelings (well, you don't know it yet, but you will) and Naruto is warming up to Hinata. For more, tune in to the next chapter!! Review!!!


	13. Chapter 13

A Special Case: Chapter 13 is out! Took me so long, there was a bit of block. Hope you like it!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

"Umm, I mean, just as friends," he quickly added, "just…you know, hanging out as friends."

Hinata was immediately relieved, even though she could feel a small pit of sadness. "S-sure, I-I'd love that."

Naruto grinned cheerfully, looking forward to spending the day with the girl by his side.

*

"Umm," Sakura started, praying for an idea that would hopefully save her life, "he… is here because…" Her mother raised an eyebrow, egging her on.

"…because he, umm," Sakura stood straight as inspiration struck her, hoping that Sasuke would forgive her one day in the future, "because he's my boyfriend!"

*

Tenten's arms fell. Her eyelids dropped as a single tear slipped through.

She sat there for the rest of the day and through the night, her feelings exposed and vulnerable. She knew that people would come find her in the morning, but for now, she needed to console herself alone.

Alone in the corner, crying herself to sleep.

**Chapter 13**

Tenten lifted her head, her face encrusted with dried tears. Her stomach growled loudly, but she had no heart to feed it. Her eyes were blank, emptied of a years worth of tears.

Hinata woke up refreshed, welcoming sunlight into her room. She smiled at the memory of yesterday, hoping to see her crush again soon. Hurrying around her room, she prepared for an eventful day.

Sakura had hardly slept at all. She had worried herself awake, analyzing Sasuke's reaction over and over again. Would he be the same today? Or go back to normal? Or even ignore her? Gah! Why did she say it!

Ino woke up with unusually muddled thoughts in her head, but one clear intention. First, though, she'd have to go talk to him. Knowing him, he'd have no idea of the day in front of him. With a sigh, she rolled out of her bed, towards her future.

*

Neji hit his fist against the wall for the fifth time, making a slight indent. Why did he do that! Everything was going perfect, and then he wanted to kiss her! He fell back onto his bed. He'd have to have a few days to cool off. He hit his head back on the pillow. Damn!

Naruto woke up slowly. His dream was still fresh in his mind; Hinata was looking up at him with her innocent smile. It made him grin too because everything about her was so _honest_. She wasn't like any of the other girls, who would play games or whatever. He knew he could trust Hinata from the bottom of his heart. He hoped she could trust him too.

Sasuke's eyes jerked open, his heart pumping fast. He had just had a horrible nightmare where Sakura's mom was pinching his cheeks, nearly ripping them off. He groaned at his memory of last night. He couldn't say he was entirely upset with Sakura's decision, if fact, he wouldn't be surprised if God was playing with his personal feelings. He just hoped he wouldn't do anything he would regret.

Shikamaru gazed at the clouds. He'd been up since the sun rose, knowing that the clouds today would be long, unbroken strands of white; his favourite. He ignored the feeling that told him it was because the clouds looked a lot like Ino's blonde hair. Maybe he would go find her today. He didn't even get to do what he wanted to, yesterday. Troublesome.

*

Temari grinned at the sun in Konoha. It was obviously a little colder than the desert of Suna, but the weather wasn't the only thing she was interested in. Turning to Gaara, she caught him trying to secretly practice a smile. She grimaced a bit when she saw the results. She really hoped he wouldn't do that in front of the Hokage.

Their father, the Kazekage, had been ill, so he sent Gaara along as a representative. Personally, Temari liked the fact that he was bed-ridden. It got rid of the tense moments they had as a 'family.'

A look around told her that her other brother was brushing up, and she knew he was hoping to get a girl. She didn't bother telling him that the Kabuki paint kind of turned them off.

With a smirk, she thought of the turmoil she would cause in this unsuspecting village.

*

Ino walked brightly through the streets of Konoha, admiring the sights. She sent a merry hello to the inhabitants of her village, always keeping an eye on a faraway hill.

She started walking faster; swinging her arms cheerily and from her power walk, broke into a jog. Not even pausing when she ran up the hill, she had a huge grin on her face at the thought of seeing her team mate.

As the flat of the hill reached her view, she stopped short. Her confused face observed a distant shape of her team mate, of which she knew, would be in exactly in the spot he was. However, instead of peacefully lying on his back, he was propping himself up on his elbows, talking avidly to another shape with signature four ponytails.

Ino's face turned to hurt then anger, when she saw the older look up and lock eyes with her. Breathing deeply, she resisted from retaliating. She was much more mature; a fight would not solve things.

Bravely raising her chin, she was about to step forward, not one to back down from a fight. But as she did so, Shikamaru reached out an arm, grabbed Temari's right hand and pull her down on top of him.

Ino could not hold back her gasp as girlish giggles erupted from the other blonde's mouth. She could feel her face scrunching up, tears pricking at her eyes. No! She was _not_ going to cry in front of that…that thing!

Admitting failure, she spun on her heel and ran as fast as she could down the hill. On the way, she slipped and fell, hitting her elbow hard. Her heart full of adrenaline, she could hardly see through the blur caused by the floods of tears. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop the flow.

Afraid that the _couple_ would appear behind her, she crawled to a stand and kept running, tears streaming down her face. How _could_ she! That…that _sand_ _freak_, just _had_ to come and ruin her life!

Sniffing repeatedly, she lowered her head as she walked calmly through the streets, receiving only a few strange looks. The familiar feel of the streets gave her a sense of security, and cleared her mind a little.

She should not be blaming the Sand kunoichi. If she liked Shika, then fine! Love was not something that could be corrected; she knew that from personal experience. Swallowing with a dry mouth, Ino surveyed her situation sensibly.

Too many times had her rashness landed her in difficult problems, and too many times, she had disappointed her friends by her brash decisions. She was _not_ going to make that mistake again.

Facing forward and bracing the wind, she resolved to not interfere with their relationship in _any_ way. He wasn't her even her boyfriend, and he was free to make any choice. As much as her heart and tears yearned for a fight, her mind ruled over them all. Shamefully, she tore her feelings away, telling herself that as a ninja, her emotions could not rule over her.

She headed straight home, ignoring her parents' probing glances, and flopped onto her bed. The less she saw of her team mate and Sand kunoichi was better.

*

Sakura tried using some meditation techniques, bring her hands up and down, breathing deeply. Needless to say, it did nothing to calm her nerves.

For the fifth time, she raised her hand to knock onto the foreboding door, but for the fifth time, the devil and angel appeared on her shoulders.

"Sakura! You can do it! Sasuke is not that heartless to throw you out!" the angel encouraged.

"Yes, not _that_ heartless?" rebutted the devil, sarcastically, "I'll bet that he's still angry from yesterday. Did you _see_ his face? Well, maybe not, but _I_ certainly did, and it was _not_ good."

Sakura bit her lip; she needed to go with the angel, but her apprehension made her look towards the devil.

"No! Don't listen to her! Sasuke would never ignore his team mate! He must understand that you were desperate. I mean, he even baked for you!"

Sakura cocked her head as she considered this. He _did_ bake a beautiful cake for her. Well, for her mum. With a confident smile, she raised her fist back to knock…

"…No! What if he is really angry at you? Have you ever known Sasuke to be forgiven and sympathetic?" The devil made her fist stop an inch from the door.

Sakura pouted and furrowed her eyebrows to consider this. Perhaps she was right…

"Sakura! Sasuke has proven himself worthy! Remember that look?" The angel tried.

Indeed, Sakura had Sasuke's cute, embarrassed look embedded into her head. It made her feel slightly faint at the thought of it. Smiling a secret smile, she made to continue the knock.

"Wait! He could be sleeping! You'll wake him up!"

"Oh, shut up! It's ten! Who would sleep with this noise!"

"Hey! He probably had no sleep because _someone_ declared he was her boyfriend out of her spontaneous mouth!"

"Stop it! You're horrible!"

"It's the truth!"

"Don't make her feel worse! Sakura, just go for it; what's the worst that could happen?"

"The worst that could happen? Well, I have a _lot_ of possibilities for tha-"

"Gah!" Sakura screamed, thrusting her fist forward, regardless of the fight going on. Unfortunately, she was a little too hasty, and her power punch reduced the door to splinters.

As she stood there struck dumb by the mess she had caused, a familiar looking shape appeared through the dust.

"Sakura." His voice came out from the dust, but she had no time to consider it's teasing lilt. "Why has my door disintegrated?"

"Ohhhh, Oh my god, Sasuke, I'm- Oh my god, how I could do this?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes. How _could_ you do this?"

His sarcastic tone made her blush uncomfortably. "Sasuke, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to… to kill your door."

Her deep colour made his lips turn up a fraction. "It's fine."

"What!?" Sakura jerked her eyes to his. "How can it be okay!? I broke down your door!"

"Yes." Sasuke cocked his head with a pondering look. "You're right. It's _not_ fine. Well, not until you fix it."

Sakura looked suspiciously at him. She really couldn't read his expression. Was he angry? Or just teasing? Or just bored?

"Umm, I guess I can fix it?

Sasuke sighed at her bewildered expression, deciding to rid her of her confusion. "Jeez, just come in."

Relived, Sakura stepped over the shattered remains of the door and into her team mate's house. The first thing she noticed was a delicious aroma that smelt a lot like chocolate. Never being in his home, she stared wide eyed at the plain walls and simple design. It was a pretty big house, with one storey which spread pretty far.

The empty space depicted a sense of death, which made Sakura involuntarily shiver. On her left, there was the guest room, the screen left an inch open allowing a view of the dust covered area. Likewise, the bedrooms were covered in age and time.

One space that was surprisingly spotless was the kitchen. It was not unlike Sakura's own, minus occasional burn marks. Cook books were neatly stacked in small cupboards, and Sakura supposed that inside drawers, shining silverware could be found. The chocolate scent was coming from a ticking oven, and she breathed it in deeply.

She lingered a little too long at the kitchen, and was pulled away by Sasuke's "Oi."

She uttered a feeble apology and hastily sat down at the kitchen bench, like he was doing. She was still struck by the perfect cleanliness of the kitchen. Obviously he had probably used it often. She could see black flaking off the stove top, and some plates stacked in the drying rack. How good would it be if Sasuke was her husband? Then she'd have gourmet meals everyday!

She nearly slapped her forehead. What was she thinking? Like Sasuke would ever like her! Like he would ever notice her…

"Sakura. There was a reason why you broke down my door."

"Huh?" Sakura stared at him dumbstruck for a moment before remember, she _had_ broken down his door. What for though? Was there a mission? Or-

"-Ah." Sakura blushed at the memory of her declaration. She sighed. There was no backing out now. She had gotten as far as the kitchen!

"So, Sasuke, I, uh…!" She blurted, turning her head away from his gaze.

"Hn." Sasuke knew exactly what she said, but the sight of her embarrassed face was actually pretty funny.

"I didn't quite catch that…could you say it again?" He teased, smirking.

Sakura peeked at him under her fringe, her face pained. "Please don't make me say it again," she whispered. After a short silence, Sakura knew he was enjoying her humiliation. She could almost feel him secretly laughing at her. How dare he! She would show him!

She turned to him carefully with a knowing smile, and challenging eyes. "Sasuke," she almost purred, "I apologise deeply for my most out of the line conduct last night." Here, she looked down shyly and bit her lip, enjoying immensely the shock on his face. "Please forgive me?"

Sasuke swallowed uncomfortably. How did things turn out like this? Ah. Of course, he forgot about her flare of temper. Looking at her peep bashfully through her eyelashes, he could feel his heartbeat race a little. She looked so kissable…

He cleared his throat and pasted on a smirk. "That's fine. Sakura." Her name was said quietly, but she could still hear a little affection behind it. Was it possible that he was affected by her act? Well, she _was_ very multitalented.

"So," she continued on normally, "what do we do now?"

He sighed; leave it up to her to rely on him. He wouldn't admit that it felt kind of nice having her ask for his help. "Well, I think your mum is pretty happy having me as your boyfriend-" he nearly stumbled over the word 'boyfriend' "-so we should just go along pretending we're a…together."

"Really?" Sakura thought that he would immediately suggest them break up, but this was a nice change.

"Of course, at a later date, we can break up easily." Sakura's hopeful look dropped. Knew it wouldn't last.

"But," Sasuke continued softly, suddenly feeling very safe, "it would be nice to sort of have a mum again. A family." He looked round the kitchen, and Sakura didn't miss the way his eyes blinked a little faster.

"Oh, so you just want my mum, huh?" Sakura laughed, bringing the lightness back. "Oh, that sounded wrong."

Sasuke stuck up a good-humoured eyebrow at her. "Why else?"

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen, talking, forgetting their barriers for an afternoon. Even though Sasuke remained his cold self, he contributed to the conversation more than Sakura had ever witnessed.

She even got him to share his chocolate fudge cake with her and when she looked at him while they were eating it together, Sakura wondered if this was how love felt.

* * *

A Special Case: Waaaa, Sasuke is being nice! I want him to be nice to me. If you liked it, please review! If you didn't like it... send constructive critisism! THANK YOU


	14. Chapter 14

A Special Case: I am very very very very very very sorry for my late late late chapter. I hope that you'll like, so read on!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

She should not be blaming the Sand kunoichi. If she liked Shika, then fine! Love was not something that could be corrected; she knew that from personal experience. Swallowing with a dry mouth, Ino surveyed her situation sensibly.

Too many times had her rashness landed her in difficult problems, and too many times, she had disappointed her friends by her brash decisions. She was _not_ going to make that mistake again.

Facing forward and bracing the wind, she resolved to not interfere with their relationship in _any_ way. He wasn't her even her boyfriend, and he was free to make any choice. As much as her heart and tears yearned for a fight, her mind ruled over them all. Shamefully, she tore her feelings away, telling herself that as a ninja, her emotions could not rule over her.

She headed straight home, ignoring her parents' probing glances, and flopped onto her bed. The less she saw of her team mate and Sand kunoichi was better.

*

"But," Sasuke continued softly, suddenly feeling very safe, "it would be nice to sort of have a mum again. A family." He looked round the kitchen, and Sakura didn't miss the way his eyes blinked a little faster.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen, talking, forgetting their barriers for an afternoon. Even though Sasuke remained his cold self, he contributed to the conversation more than Sakura had ever witnessed.

She even got him to share his chocolate fudge cake with her and when she looked at him while they were eating it together, Sakura wondered if this was how love felt.

**Chapter 14**

Neji was agitated.

Sure, he might not have looked it, casually leaning back on a tree with his eyes closed. But if you looked super closely, muscles in his jaw would tense, relax, and tense again. And if you observed even more closely, each time a sound was made, his foot twitched, just the slightest bit.

Luckily for him, Lee and Gai were too caught up in the sunrise to notice.

He sighed inwardly. He didn't even know if she was going to-

"Lee!"

As soon as he heard the tones of his teammate, he jerked straight up and turned her way, jamming his hands in his pockets to prevent the urge to fidget. With careful eyes, he observed that she hadn't slept. At all.

Dark shadows emphasized her eyes, and her buns hung limp. She hugged Lee unusually tight, as if she were trying to do postpone looking at her other teammate.

She directed her glance to the ground as she felt Neji's presence replace Lee's. The wind rustled the grass around them. Lee and Gai were gone.

It was just them.

"Tente-" Whoosh!

She threw a kunai at him before he could finish. On reflex, he leapt back and deflected it. Silence ensued.

"Let's just fight. Okay…Neji?" Her voice was soft, carried by the wind, but every word resounded in his head and struck his heart.

"No."

From her spot ten meters away from him, she could see the narrowing of eyes that came with his defiance.

"Neji…please…" Her whisper did not go unnoticed. Without a sound, he ran at her, kunais leaving his hand in a flash.

She defended with a katana, and didn't have enough time to notice the tree behind her before he grabbed her katana, the sword slicing part of his hand. Tenten's eyes widened; she could have cut his hand open!

"Neji! What are you doing!"

She suddenly felt hard bark on her back. Ah. He pinned her. His face was an inch from hers, and his breath was short from the pain. She could feel it on her face, and her heart beat fast at the déjà vu.

His right hand wrapped around her wrist loosened, but she did not attempt to push him off.

"Neji, we have to get you to the hospital, or, or at least bandage it. You're going to faint from the blood!"

He gritted his teeth. Damn, she sharpened it good. "Just…wait," he grounded out.

"Okay, I'm waiting! Hurry up!"

"Tenten…" He was already embarrassed, "I'm… sorry. For what I did the other day."

Tenten's expression melted into astonishment. She took a breath to talk but he interrupted her.

"I just…" he winced slightly as Tenten's hand moved slightly and the katakana twisted in his palm, "…didn't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me? Neji, you didn't…you…you didn't have to leave."

He bit his lip. He wanted to kiss her so much, but there would be consequences and he cared too much for her to let her go through it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do!" He moved closer and Tenten resisted the urge to break into tears.

"Tenten…my family…I just don't want you to go through…that."

Tenten breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of blood. Her eyes softened. He hadn't meant to hurt her, he was just confused. He cared for her.

"It's fine, Neji. Just…don't leave like that again."

Neji smiled. A rare smile that looked strange on his stoic face, but Tenten still felt happier seeing it.

"Okay, so friends?" she said brightly, lifting the atmosphere.

"Yes, friends. And next time, I promise not to leave."

Tenten hid her smile at his last comment, her thoughts straying where reality stopped.

She forgot about his injury momentarily until hearing his grunt when she unknowingly pushed the katakana forward.

"Ah! Neji! I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine," he mumbled, "Just take it out, please."

With a poof, the sword disappeared, leaving his wound dripping a steady flow of blood.

"I think that talk made you nicer, Neji. Now you know how to say 'please' and 'sorry'. Good progress, good progress."

Neji resisted glaring at her teasing, but was grateful that things were fine between them again. For now.

"Anyway, let's get you to the hospital. Do you think they'll let me watch you stitch you up? Or would that be too painful? Do you want me to hold your hand while they do it?"

He growled at her and walked faster. "Okay, okay! I'll hold your hand! If that's what you want, Ne-ji!

This was going to be a long day.

*

Sakura swung her shopping back jauntily through the markets. Something caught her eye and she stopped to look at it.

On the wall, was a bright poster with black bold letters: 'Konoha Dance Festival! Fun, food, and fireworks! All through Konoha Main Street on 3rd of July!

3rd of July…why did that hit a bell? Sakura shrugged, she'd worry about it later. Casting another look at the poster, she decided to go tell Ino; she'd be delighted.

*

"Ah! Sakura!" Ino opened the door with a flourish, ushering her pink-haired friend in with unusual enthusiasm.

"Hi to you too, Ino." Sakura looked round the shop. "Wow! It's so clean! Did you tidy this up?"

"Yup!" The blonde announced proudly, "I even bothered to scrub under the counter, just in case little kids can see down there."

Sakura shot her a weird look. Didn't Ino prefer to be outside, socializing? She was pretty sure that Ino would not spend her free days _cleaning_.

"Okay…anyway, guess what I saw today!? There's a poster for a Konoha dance on the 3rd of July down the main street."

"A dance party! Ooooh, so much fun!" Ino squealed, relieved Sakura didn't mention her cleaning frenzy.

"Yeah, and I know you wanna take '_Shika'_!" Sakura teased, not missing the sudden stiffness.

"Hahaha, yeah… and obviously you'd ask Sasuke!"

Sakura paused. "Actually…I think that…well, don't worry about it!" Ino was curious, but didn't push it. After all, she was hiding a secret too.

"Anyway, just wanted to drop by and tell you that. Need to get home to put these down," she gestured to the shopping bags.

"Alright then, see you!" Ino called. When Sakura had left the shop, she slumped against the counter.

'Shika…'

*

Sakura breathed in the fresh air. She had wanted to tell Ino, but was scared of her reaction. After all, it was a big ask, and probably a stupid one too.

She headed back home; it wasn't worth dwelling on. Even if she wanted desperately for Sasuke to ask _her_.

*

Sasuke stopped and cocked his head at the poster. 'Konoha Dance Party' it said.

With a smile, he moved on, thinking of a certain pink-haired girl.

*

"Hinata, your turn."

"Ah, o-okay. What about…y-your favourite drink?"

"Hmmm, hard one. Probably…milk!"

They had had been sitting in Ichiraku's for the past hour, playing the question-answer game.

"M-milk?"

"Well, hanging out with Pervy-Sage always involves drinking tea of some kind. Milk normally makes me feel better afterwards."

Hinata giggled softly, and Naruto's grin widened. No matter how many times, he never got tired of seeing her shy smile.

"Okay, my turn. What is your favourite colour?"

Hinata blushed before answering truthfully, "Yellow."

"Yellow," Naruto contemplated, "I never took you for a yellow person, but I guess you do kinda seem like you have...sunshine inside you."

Hinata was stunned, and a blush quickly covered her cheeks.

"Ah!" Naruto yelled when he saw the clock, "I have to go! I have to meet up with Sasuke now!"

He hurriedly finished his noodles which had been hardly touched. "Sorry, I have to leave!"

"Oh, th-that's okay."

"Oh, and Hinata?" he yelled just before he left, "my favourite colour's blue. Same as your hair."

Ayame watched amusedly as the shy girl slowly turned bright red and…fainted. Well, that had been happening a lot, but she hoped that maybe one day, Hinata might be able to say something back to him.

*

"Hey, Sasuke, what are we doing here again?"

The dark haired boy sighed. "You wanted to see the Hyuuga's house."

"Ah. Right. Do you think we can go in?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Hey! Hey, wait! We could!"

"No."

"Well,_ I_ could."

"Fine."

"But would you come with me?"

"No."

Naruto pouted as he plodded in step with his team mate. "Jeez, such a killjoy."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Do you know how much security they have?"

"No, but-" Naruto suddenly stopped, staring at Sasuke as if he had two heads.

"What?"

"Sasuke. You're- you're having a conversation with me!"

"So?"

"You never talk this much!"

Sasuke forced down a tinge of red. Damn.

"So, what's with the change?"

"Nothing."

"It happened this week, didn't it?"

"No."

"It was Sakura, wasn't it?"

Sasuke paused and looked Naruto in the face. "How would you know I talked to Sakura?"

Naruto nonchalantly shrugged. "Maybe a little birdy told me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Hyuuga?"

"Hinata," Naruto corrected, and then looked suspiciously at his friend. "You know I talked to her?"

Sasuke continued walking and replied, "Who doesn't?"

"Hey, wait! Tell me who! Who knows? I'm not obvious am I?"

"Hn."

"No! Sasuke! Revert back! Revert back!"

"Hn."

"Damn."

"…"

"So do you think Hinata likes me?"

"Hn."

* * *

A Special Case: please review, please review or just tell me if it was incredibly bad or good. which is reviewing... ^^ Thank you!


	15. Chapter 15

A Special Case: Hi everyone!! Just letting you know that I love you!! Enjoy!

* * *

**Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Hyuuga?"

"Hinata," Naruto corrected, and then looked suspiciously at his friend. "You know I talked to her?"

Sasuke continued walking and replied, "Who doesn't?"

"Hey, wait! Tell me who! Who knows? I'm not obvious am I?"

"Hn."

"No! Sasuke! Revert back! Revert back!"

"Hn."

"Damn."

"…"

"So do you think Hinata likes me?"

"Hn."

**Chapter 15**

"Sakura!"

"…"

"Sakura, get down here!"

"Coming! Jeez…"

Footsteps thundered down the stairs as Sakura flung herself into the kitchen, hoping for a nice breakfast laid out for her. Eggs, maybe…and toast would be good.

Instead, her mother was seated at the kitchen table, buttering a piece of toast for herself. Trying not to let her pout show, Sakura settled for jam and popped two pieces of bread in the toaster.

"So, Sakura," her mother began, and the pink-haired girl immediately sensed danger.

"Isn't it a nice day?" she replied brightly, smiling innocently at her mother.

"Sakura, don't be so uptight. I just wanted to talk about Sasuke." Sakura cringed, as soon as she heard his name.

"What-What do you want to know?"

"Oh, nothing much…" her mother said offhandedly, "just wondering why I haven' seen him round in a while."

"Mum," Sakura sighed, "a few days is not long."

"So?" Her mother shot back, "Boyfriends are meant to spend all their free moments with their girlfriends. And it was so soon too, are you sure you guys are serious?"

Sakura panicked and reassured her mother. "Sure, of course we are! Actually, we have a date today, so I gotta go get ready!" Sakura practically scampered upstairs to change, forgetting the jam and shoving a piece of toast in her mouth.

A minute later, she sprinted down the stairs again, only a blur to her mother while she yelled a hurried "Bye!"

Her mother shook her head. It was a little insensitive, but she did like to tease her daughter a bit. After all, her daughter's boyfriend would make a grand son-in-law. Not to mention very good-looking grandkids.

*

"Ah!" Tenten cried in relief as she sank down on the ground. Sweat covered her body and her buns were in danger of withering.

To her right, Neji stood calmly and expressionless, looking cool even in his stifling outfit. The only indication that he was _aware_ of the heat was that he was standing in the shade.

Tenten pouted. Why did he always look good even when it was burning hot while she was sweating like a dirty pig? It had stomped on her self-esteem so much that it wasn't even funny anymore.

"Neji!" She complained, "Come on, give me a break. It's like, gotta be over 40 degrees today!"

"Ninjas must still fight if the temperature is over 40 degrees."

"Yes," Tenten argued, "But they have to be at least standing to do that. Can you see me even sitting up?"

"Hn."

"Neji…"

"What do you want?"

"Ice cream?"

"Hn." Neji started walking off.

"Ah! Wait! Neji, I can't get up!"

He turned around. Tenten was sitting adorably, propped up by the tree and her puppy dog eyes out. He raised an eyebrow at her outstretched arms.

He stalked over in front of her and crouched down. "Get on."

"Yay!" Tenten scrambled on his back, giggling happily.

The things he did for her.

*

Ino frowned. Then she tried smiling while she frowned. Then she tried raising one eyebrow while frowning and smiling. Then she tried crossing her eyes out while raising an eyebrow and frowning and smiling. Then-

"Ino?"

"Aaah!" Ino screamed, embarrassed that someone had caught her. They'd think she was retarded now! Actually, who was…

"Shika…" she whispered. "Oh! Shikamaru! Welcome! Would you like to buy some flowers?"

Shikamaru frowned. Since when did he become 'Shikamaru'?

"Uh, no. Just seeing if you were okay. Haven't seen you in a while."

"Ohohoho!" Ino laughed, "It's nothing, just, um, busy with the shop!"

"I can see," he replied, looking at the sparkling pots. "Well, I actually wanted-needed to do something that I, you know, but I haven't seen you…"

He trailed off, suddenly embarrassed.

"Oh." Ino replied quietly.

"Ino, will you-"

"Of course I will!"

Shikamaru blanched. What?

"Look, I know you're a little shy about your new relationship, but I promise not to say a word about it." Ino calmly said, "And you know, I'll even give you free flowers so you can give them to her! Hahaha!"

Shikamaru was too shocked and confused to see through Ino's fake smile. He _was_ going to ask her to take a walk with him, but now things had just gone a little weird.

"You know what!" Ino cried, running around the counter and pushing Shikamaru outside. "I'll prepare a surprise bouquet, so you just wait outside here and you can come back in a bit!"

As the door slammed behind Shikamaru, he didn't bother to move.

What. Just. Happened!?

*

"Sasuke! Sasuke, stop!"

Sasuke _did _stop to greet the sight of a panting Sakura who recovered after a few seconds only to hook her arm around his and drag him off.

"Sakura, what do you think you're doing?"

"Shut up!" she hissed, her eyes darting around suspiciously. "Any of these passer-bys could be informants of my mum. We have to act like a real couple!"

"Hn."

"I'm sorry Sasuke, just please play along for a bit, or else my mum will skin me if she finds out I'm lying to her. Just pretend we're on a date for today!"

"Oooh! Look at that!" She said louder and hauled him over to an op-shop.

Sasuke reluctantly followed, but smirked a little at the predicament they were in. When did his team mate get so interesting?

"Hey Sasuke, do you like it?" Sakura asked him, holding up a glass decoration. Her clear voice resulted in gasps and stares from the various girls scattered throughout the shop. Whispers of "Oh, she's with Sasuke-kun! I must tell Yumi this! What does he see in her?" ensued.

Sasuke personally was enjoying the attention. His answer of "Hn," brought out squeals and made Sakura roll her eyes.

"Come on, let's go," she led him out the doorway; hoping news of their relationship would spread. Then Sasuke wouldn't have to put up with her that much. She smiled sadly. She hated the thought of her forcing him to do things. But for today…today she was allowed to order him around.

They jumped from store to store, arousing gossip and many "Oooh"s, from inquisitive people, mostly females.

Sakura's eye suddenly caught something glittering in her peripheral vision. She left Sasuke's side and followed it, entering into a heavily scented shop.

The sparkling light had come from a necklace. It was beautiful; a silver oval locket with an intricate design on the front. She was spellbound as she walked up to it. With trembling fingers, she opened it and gasped.

There were blank ovals to put a picture in, but on the thin rims, Sakura's pointed eyesight could spot out tiny hearts delicately engraved. It was gorgeous.

Now, if only she could afford-NO WAY! It was way over her budget. If she bought this she'd have to ask for her _monthly_ pocket money in advance! With regret, she closed the locket and carefully placed it back.

"Sakura. It's time to eat."

She spun round to see Sasuke standing at the door. With a last glance at the locket, she nodded and exited the shop. Sasuke followed her, but not before casting a look at the necklace. An oval. He'd have to ask her why.

They walked in silence until reaching a dango store. Both of them stopped, memories conjured. Sakura laughed, breaking the tension.

"You wouldn't happen to mind paying for me again, Sasuke?" She teased, getting out her own wallet.

He placed a pale hand on it. "I'll pay. For real."

She stuck up an eyebrow at him and shrugged. They _were_ on a date, after all.

After they finished eating, the awkward space between them disappeared. It was almost, _almost_ like the time in his kitchen.

Sakura laughed at Sasuke's expression when she had pointed at a flamboyant hairstyle. He had pulled her hair lightly, commenting that he would much prefer her hair cut off. She slapped him for that.

He was always behind her as she looked at clothes and little gifts. Either it was to tilt his head in agreement to her cooing, or make a pained face and force her to put it back.

She glared at him when he said she looked fat in the dress, and burst out laughing at him in a top hat. She nodded in amazement as he explained why Naruto would prefer a frog to a bowl of ramen (who would have thought that?) and almost collapsed from giggles as he silently handed her a pig as a gift to Ino.

By the end of the day, Sakura had forgotten they were pretending.

And so had he.

*

"Hiiiinaaaataaaa!"

Hinata looked up to see a most peculiar sight.

Tenten was happily settled on Neji's back, eating an ice cream and holding another. Neji's face had a cross between desperation and determination.

"H-Hello, Tenten, N-Neji-niisan."

"Would you like some ice cream, Hinata?" Tenten asked innocently, holding out the one she wasn't licking.

"Hey, hey!" Neji yelled, "That's mine!"

Hinata blinked. She had never heard her cousin's voice that childish.

"Oops," Tenten hopped off his back nimbly, "I'm soooo sorry Neji, but it just looked soooo appetizing!" At this point, she took a long lick of his ice cream, and Neji's face hardened.

"Give. It. Back."

"I don't wanna!"

"Now, Tenten."

"Hmmm, let me think about that." Another lick.

"That's it!"

Hinata watched in awe as Tenten as she cleverly hopped over the bench Hinata was sitting on and evaded Neji's swipes.

"Now, now, Neji. Wouldn't wanna hurt your cousin would you?" Tenten looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

He gave up and started to walk away.

"Aww, fine, Neji. Have your ice cream." Tenten thrust his ice cream at him, almost dropping it. "Let's go, Hinata!"

"G-go where?"

"Somewheeeere, over the rainboooow…"

As Hinata was dragged off by Tenten, she looked back at her cousin. He shook his head, and set off in the opposite direction, slowly licking his ice cream.

Hinata softly smiled. Perhaps he would not have an ice exterior forever. Perhaps he would melt. Like the ice cream in his hands.

*

"Here you are!"

Shikamaru opened a lazy eye to see a huge mound of colour blinding him. A sickly overwhelming scent tickled his nose. His team mate's face appeared under it, dwarfed by the size.

"Hi, Shikamaru." Ino's bright voice said, "Here you are. This better be worth it, cos this would've cost quite a lot."

"Ino, for the last time-"

"Just take it and go!" she screamed. Shikamaru was shocked and he reeled back from her.

"Ino…"

She let out a nervous laugh. "Just take it and…I'm sorry. Now go! Before I change my mind about giving it to you for free! Go!"

Shikamaru was so stunned that he immediately obeyed, snatching the bouquet and scrambling off.

Once he was out of sight, Ino forced herself back into the shop and collapsed against the door.

Deep sobs from her chest rose up no matter how hard she tried not to make a sound. Tears streamed down her face and she clutched her hands together, just to hold on to something.

A sharp pain had dug itself into the centre of her heart. It was the only thing she could feel. It was like someone had ripped out her heart, cut it in two, and shoved only one half back in.

After she had calmed down a little, she steadied herself back towards the counter. There was no point crying over something that she could not help.

She just had to be strong and endure.

Be strong and endure.

Stuff that. It was time to get the ice cream out.

* * *

A Special Case: Yay! Another chapter done! Muhahaha!

A Random Stranger: Why are you so happy?

A Special Case: I went to Luna park today!! (everybody go on the wild mouse; its AWESOME)

A Random Stranger: You're still at school? Aren't all your friends off alre-

A Special Case: Shuddup. (proceed to put duct tape on A Random Stranger's mouth)Anyway, hope you enjoyed that chappy, and REVIEW!!^^


	16. Chapter 16

A Special Case: I am forever indebted to my precious readers who have been waiting goodness how long for this chapter. I apologise immensely. Now go read!

**

* * *

Life as it is**

**Summary from last ch.**

By the end of the day, Sakura had forgotten they were pretending.

And so had he.

* * *

As Hinata was dragged off by Tenten, she looked back at her cousin. He shook his head, and set off in the opposite direction, slowly licking his ice cream.

Hinata softly smiled. Perhaps he would not have an ice exterior forever. Perhaps he would melt. Like the ice cream in his hands.

* * *

After she had calmed down a little, she steadied herself back towards the counter. There was no point crying over something that she could not help.

She just had to be strong and endure.

Be strong and endure.

Stuff that. It was time to get the ice cream out.

**Chapter 16**

Shikamaru opened a lazy eye to see the pale green of his bedroom ceiling. The sun was shining directly into his eyes, making it impossible to go back to sleep.

Another troublesome day.

He plodded into the kitchen a few minutes later, observing his mother bustling in the kitchen, humming a happy tune.

She had been like that since yesterday afternoon, when her son had brought home a magnificent bouquet of flowers which were now the centerpiece on the coffee table.

She had been completely bemused when Shikamaru had shuffled in the door, holding a huge bunch of flowers, and dumping them into her hands. When she had asked him what it was for, he replied with an "I picked them up."

No matter, all that was important was that it should be shown off as much as possible. Perhaps she should call some guests over tonight…

* * *

"Sakura! Sakura! Sakura! Saku-"

"-I'm coming! Shut up!"

Ino grinned cheekily At her irritated best friend. "Hi Sakura!"

"What. Do you want."

"Let's go shopping!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Shopping? For what?"

Ino looked at her like she had grown an extra head. "For what! For what! The Main Street Dance!"

"Oh!" Sakura slapped her forehead, "I totally forgot!"

Ino rolled her eyes, muttering "obviously."

Sakura glared at her. "Shut up, and wait here so I can get changed. Where's Tenten and Hinata?"

Ino smiled coyly. "Weeeeell, I sent Tenten over to 'the mansion' to look for Hinata…"

Sakura looked suspiciously at her. "But doesn't Hinata have drawing lessons in the morning? Don't they end…about an hour from now?"

"Oh my gosh!" Ino cried, "Are you serious?"

Sakura looked at Ino's fake surprised face. "You are going to get slaughtered."

Ino placed her hands over heart, acting mock scared. "But I told Tenten Hinata had cancelled lessons today! Damn, I guess she has to wait _by_ _herself_ for an _hour_."

"Or…?"

"Or I _suppose_…Neji could always be there," Ino cheekily said.

Sakura sighed. "Fine, but I'm not responsible for your early death."

"It's the thought that counts, Sakura!" Ino yelled at her back.

Today was going to be an auspicious day.

* * *

"Hi! I'm looking for- Neji?"

"Tenten? What are you doing here?"

Tenten stared in surprise at her team mate who had opened the door. Normally, wasn't it Hanabi or Hinata who opened the door?

"Uhh…Looking for Hinata?"

Neji frowned. "Hinata has drawing lessons right now. Didn't you know that?"

"Well, yeah. But Ino said that they were cancelled today…"

Neji continued to look at her strangely.

"They're not cancelled, are they?"

He shook his head.

Tenten swallowed audibly. "Excuse me for a moment."

Neji's eyes followed her as she walked backwards a few steps, paused, then started jumping up and down and screaming hysterically.

Neji stepped back from her, fearing for his safety. Her fit lasted only a few seconds, and she recovered with a gracious smile.

"I'm sorry. I'm gonna come back in an hour after I find someone and kill them as many ways as possible."

Neji walked her stalk away for a few seconds before his brain caught up with him. "Wait, Tenten!"

She half-turned, fury still etched into her face.

"Would you like to come in?" He asked her hesitantly, then quickly added, "It is bad manners to turn you away. You can sit and wait for her here."

Tenten eyed him suspiciously. He was clearly confident in his stance, but a little pulling at the side of his mouth made him look insecure. And adorably cute.

"Aww, Neji, course I will," Tenten answered with a blooming smile, "Just cos you asked me so nicely." And with that, she skipped into the house humming a tune.

Neji sighed and put his hand up to his forehead in exasperation before following her in. He never could predict what she was going to do next, but he did look forward to the surprise.

* * *

Sasuke was annoyed.

He had worn pants that didn't have pockets, so now he was facing the dilemma of where to put his hands. He couldn't remember the last time he had walked without his hands in pockets and could not believe he was standing in the middle of Konoha Main Street debating such an idiotic matter.

Nevertheless, he subtly observed people as they walked past.

Elderly leaning on their walking sticks. Mothers with hands full of children and shopping bags. Friends taking a walk, arms locked together. A frumpy woman, her hands always adjusting the strap of her handbag. A young teenage boy, carrying bags and boxes of various sizes while his girlfriend playfully poked him in the side to make him drop them.

Sasuke stopped there.

That's right. The last time he'd been out it was with Sakura. A vision of pink entered his brain. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't conjure up her face, but could only remember the warm feeling her smile gave him.

A glint caught in the corner of his eye. His legs stilled, bringing him in front of a window. A silver locket hung on display at the front of the shop, almost showing off by the way it gleamed. He walked in to get a better look at it; the blank spaces on the inside were framed by hearts-

-of course.

Sakura.

* * *

"Hinata!" Tenten yelled, almost too relieved for Neji's liking. She sprang up from where she and Neji had been playing chess, almost knocking the glass board over.

"H-how have y-you been, Tenten?" Hinata politely asked.

"Well, I'm fine, and I've been sent by Ino to get you so we can go shopping!" Tenten replied happily, even though Hinata heard a slight strain when she said 'Ino'.

"Oh, w-what for?"

"Oh, you know, this and that. Of course, Ino would drag us around for no reason, go buy pointless things for no reason, send me to someone's house for no reason!" Her teeth started grinding together towards the end, and Hinata decided that Tenten had stayed far too long.

"W-well, we'll b-be off now, N-Neji nii-san, h-have a nice d-day."

Tenten wrapped her arm around Hinata's and dragged her out the door before he could say anything in reply.

"Ah. You too."

* * *

"Woohoo! They're here!" Ino jumped and waved her arms wildly to catch their attention in the thick crowd.

When Tenten and Hinata reached them, she immediately switched into leader mode.

"Okay. Everyone. Today's mission is to find dresses, jewelry and shoes for the Main Street dance! Let's go!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Tenten interrupted, "You mean to say that I endured a 1 hour chess game with Neji in which he smashed me about fifty times so we could go out and buy _DRESSES_?"

"Umm," Ino replied, "Yes?"

Sakura cringed.

"Don't you give me YES, you little ignorant twit! Do you know how torturous that experience was and how stupid this idea is and I'm never going to talk to you again and _get back here, you idiot_!"

Ino had already sped off towards the mall, with Tenten in hot pursuit. Sakura and Hinata decided to take the slower, safer way by walking.

"Oh, wow, this colour would totally suit you, Sakura!"

"Hehe, thanks Ino."

"And this is adorable, it would totally suit your personality, Hinata!"

"O-oh, thank you Ino."

"And this would really hang well on your frame, Tenten!"

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"…Shut up."

"Come on Tenten, lighten up. Let's all get something to drink, okay?" Ino clapped her hands together and set off on their course to the food court.

Sakura patted Tenten on the head. "Chess wasn't that bad, I'm sure. And Ino really wants this to be a fun outing."

Something in Sakura's voice told Tenten that she was being immature, and even though Ino was being silly, she was acting even more so.

"Hmph. Fine."

"Aww, that's a good girl."

* * *

"So!" Sakura began with an evil grin, "update!"

"Nothing much."

"Just normal."

Sakura and Hinata raised their eyebrows at the nonchalant answers. And obviously evasive ones. Hinata snuck a glance at the brown-haired by her side, and decided she wouldn't bring up the springs incident.

"Okay…then, Hinata?"

"Me? I've been…fine, I guess?"

"Fine?" Sakura interjected with a full-blown grin, "I thought you've been enjoying marvelous times with your boyfrie-ah, friend of yours? Or was it just me that I've seen him everywhere with you?"

Hinata blushed at her words. "We're just friends."

"For now," the other girl cheekily inputted.

"Same goes for you, Sakura!" Hinata boldly exclaimed, "I saw you in the marketplace!"

Sakura flushed pink at the remark, "Why do you always know what I'm doing?"

Hinata shrugged and replied, "Only when you're with Sasuke." Ha, take that as payback!

Ino gasped. "You were with Sasuke? Again?"

Sakura glared daggers at the blue-haired girl. "Fine. Due to…misunderstandings with my mum-" the girls nodded, they knew about her family issue, "-Sasuke is officially my, umm, boyfriend."

"…"

"Oh My Gosh!" Ino gushed, "Congratulations! You go girl! Booya-"

"-Shut up!" hissed Sakura, slapping her friend on the shoulder, "According to my MUM. Only my MUM."

"Still," Hinata hesitantly offered, "You both acted very well as a couple."

Ino opened her mouth again, no doubt to express her excitement loudly, but not before Sakura slammed her hand over.

"He is just my comrade who is helping me out right now," she said in a level voice. "I'm just glad that we get along better. Can we leave it?"

The others nodded obediently.

"So," Tenten started in attempt to lighten the mood, "When is this dance gonna be anyway?"

"3rd of July," Sakura replied automatically, "although, there is something nagging me about that date…"

"Of course!" Hinata gasped at her epiphany, "It's Neji-niisan's birthday!"

Tenten smacked her head; she had almost forgotten about that…

"And," Hinata continued, "It would be Sasuke's birthday on the 23rd, right?"

Sakura was surprised. "Really? Seriously, Hinata, how do you know these things…"

"And, Ino! You and Shikama-"

"-Yeah. We normally have joint birthdays. Shame Chouji's birthday's all the way in May."

There was a strange detached way when Ino said it, as if she was rehearsing lines.

There was no comment on it.

* * *

"Neji."

"Yes, Uncle," came the immediate reply.

"You are aware of your birthday coming soon, I'm sure."

"Yes, Uncle."

"You will be required for a formal presentation in the morning and a small luncheon in the afternoon, as well as various presentations during the late afternoon."

"Yes, Uncle."

"That day is unfortunately also the same date as the Konoha Festival. None of the Hyuuga's will be able to attend until late at night, by which I'm sure you will be tired enough."

"What about Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama?"

"They are not exempt from the Hyuuga tradition, Neji."

A hesitation. "Yes, Uncle."

"Please tell them as soon as they arrive back home to see me."

"Yes, Uncle."

"You are dismissed."

* * *

Hinata felt like her legs were going to drop off, or at least collapse due to the extensive walking they had done all day. Her arms reluctantly carried bags and boxes, heavier than the items inside.

For the fifth time, she sighed. Why didn't she wear her comfortable sandals?

"Hinata!"

A smile leapt to her face and she lurched precariously around to find the familiar voice, before she remembered she was holding objects.

"Oh, wow, distracted much? I got them, don't worry." His cheeky grin came into her view and her heart swelled.

Taking most of the bags from her tired arms, he walked her up the street, towards the Hyuuga mansion.

"This for the Konoha Festival?"

Hinata looked at him in surprise and nodded. He was staring off the side, as if slightly embarrassed.

"I see."

Some silence ensued.

"Would you go with me?"

Hinata looked at him in confusion. "G-go to w-what, Naruto-kun?"

"The dance festival, of course!" He had stopped walking, and turned to face her with his determined face.

At her struck expression, he backtracked quickly.

"I-I mean, only if you wanted to go with me, though I can see why you don't want to. And if someone else's asked you, then it's okay too!"

Hinata giggled at his flustered words, and Naruto closed his mouth with an embarrassed look, a hand going through his hair nervously.

"I-I would be very honoured to g-go with you, Naruto-kun."

His sky blue eyes widened in joy. "Really? Awesome! Ha! Wait till I tell Sasuke-teme!"

Hinata smiled shyly as he continued to ramble his happiness, breathing deeply in case she fainted. She stayed well and truly on her feet.

* * *

"Hinata-sama."

"Yes?" Hinata turned to an approaching Neji, the smile refusing to leave her face.

"You've had a good day?"

"Oh, yes, very good, thank you."

"Your father would like to speak to you and Hanabi."

"I will be right there," replied Hinata brightly, and with giggle, she swept off in the direction of her room.

Neji looked guiltily at her, and knew that if he looked out the door, he would be able to see Naruto's retreating back.

It was his, not Hiashi's fault, that he would ruin her day.

It was a long time later before he realised that for the first time, she had not stuttered when speaking to him.

* * *

"Ino, honey, get dressed, okay?"

Ino turned to her father's request as soon as she stepped through the door. "Why?"

Her father sighed heavily. "Your mother has accepted the invitation for a dinner party." Ino cringed for her father; he hated to sit there and eat while women gossiped.

"However," he added with a wink, "I have good notion that it's from the Nara's, so I might get another game under my belt. Against Chouza, of course, don't know why I bother to play against Shikaku... Ino, did you have a nice day?"

His daughter turned and looked at him steadily in the eye and gave a "Yes, it was nice," before she swept up the corridor to her room.

Inoichi tilted his head at her. Was it just him or did she stress the word 'was?'

Ah, well. He rubbed his hands in anticipation; tonight was the night Shikaku would fall victim to his stealthy tactics!

* * *

A Special Case: Review, okay^^? This chapter was nothing heavy, but it did open up some cliffhangers to the neeext chapter! Yay! Expect tense moments people, tense tense moments!


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